What will hopefully be a long Copa del Rey journey begins this evening with a trip to face Barbastro, from the Aragonese province of Huesca, one of the two teams from the fourth tier Segunda RFEF that made it this far.
As per the rules for the Spanish national cup competition, the lower ranked side enjoys home advantage, which in this case is at the 5,000 capacity Municipal de Deportes, a ground where every seat is taken for the probable once-in-a-lifetime experience of the visit of the defending Liga champions, and where some 700 temporary seats have been added to cope with the demand.
In a town that is buzzing with anticipation, the game is being compared with a Julio Iglesias concert of 2001 as perhaps the biggest thing to have happened in the town in recent memory.
Kick off is at 9pm CET, and the prize is a place in the last 16 of the tournament. And with no second legs or replays, there has to be a winner today, so in the case of a draw, we go straight into extra time and then, if needed, penalties.
Team news
The game comes just three days after yet another dramatic comeback, this time to beat Las Palmas 2-1 on Thursday, but despite the long journey to the Canary Islands, and another long trip to Saudi Arabia immediately afterwards to take part in the Spanish Super Cup, Xavi Hernández has not opted to rest anyone for this game. His selection includes, as promised, Iñigo Martinez, who has recovered from his injury, and also new arrival Vitor Roque, who we will surely get to see a lot more of today after his brief introduction for the final minutes in Las Palmas.
However, although Xavi initially said the knee problem that caused Joao Cancelo to come off against Las Palmas was nothing serious, the Portuguese defender also stays at home with the other unfit players, Ter Stegen, Pedri and Gavi.
What took a lot of people by surprise, however, is the absence of Lamine Yamal through suspension. The youngster was red-carded in the Spanish Youth Cup last January and still has a two-game penalty to uphold, which is also applicable to the Copa del Rey.
The opposition
This is the first time that Barça have ever faced the club whose full name is Unión Deportiva Barbastro and was founded in 1934 in a town that today is home to just 17,000 people. The club has never played any higher than the third tier of the Spanish football pyramid, and only very rarely, most recently in 2006–07, when they finished bottom of their division and hence dropped straight back down.
This season’s cup run is the first time they have ever achieved anything of a major note on a national level. Beating Ponferradina was already punching well above their weight before they then saw off first division Almeria to earn their place in the round of 32. This contrasts with their league form, where they are in mid-table and ten points adrift of the promotion playoff zone. They currently lie one place below Real Sociedad’s third team, which goes to show the difference in level between themselves and today’s guests.
Other than Malian striker Souleymane Sidibe, all of the team are Spanish nationals, and only one of them, Javito, has ever played the game professionally, and even then only in two games in the second division. They also have one player, Adrià de Mesa, a self-declared Barça fan, who spent a couple of years in the blaugrana academy, and who spoke to the Barça media this week.
The team wears red and white striped jerseys with blue shorts and one of the few things working in their favour on Sunday night might be the cold. Barça are not used to playing in temperatures below 10ºC, which is what they will be dealing with in Barbastro.
Although this is the first time Barbastro have played Barça, they have played against the blaugrana reserves. In fact, in 2008, it was against this very club that Pep Guardiola achieved his first major success in management by guiding Barça B to victory in a promotion playoff.
Xavi says
Although on paper, Barça are expected to win this one easily, Xavi knows full-well that these games are always awkward. He’ll remember the scare his side got against Intercity of Alicante a year ago, and insists that “one mistake and we’re out.”
