How will Barça line up against Barbastro?

A new year begins and Barcelona kick off a busy January with their Copa del Rey debut away to fourth tier Barbastro in the Round of 32 on Saturday evening. Barça hope to rebound from a very tough end to 2024 and return to their best version shown at the beginning of the season, and they’ll be hoping to do so with a big win against a team they’ll be expected to beat easily. But this same Barbastro side caused Barça huge problems when they faced each other exactly one year ago in this same round of the Cup, so the Blaugrana cannot take anything for granted given their current form and how excited Barbastro will be to get a second chance to pull off one of the biggest upsets ever.

Here’s how we think Hansi Flick will line up his troops for Saturday’s battle. Defense Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images Even though Flick isn’t the biggest fan of rotations, even he will be aware of the importance of giving minutes to reserves and youngsters in this one, as well as saving his best players for the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. The semi-final against Athletic Bilbao comes just four days after the trip to Barbastro, so resting as many starters as possible is a must in this one.

Wojciech Szczesny is expected to finally make his debut in goal after joining the club as a free agent, and Ronald Araujo will also make his first start this season after more than six months away with a hamstring injury. Eric García will probably be his partner at center-back, and Jules Kounde (due to Héctor Fort’s injury) and Gerard Martín will likely be the starting full-backs for this one. Midfield Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images Frenkie de Jong has found it very hard to find minutes in midfield since returning to the side, but he’ll probably be in the starting XI as part of a double pivot with Gavi in this one, with Marc Casadó and Pedri getting a much-needed night off before what will no doubt be a very busy run for both.

Another player who hasn’t had many minutes and will likely start in this one is Pablo Torre , and a good performance on Saturday could help his cause in getting more minutes in bigger games thanks to the registration mess involving Dani Olmo. Attack Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images Saturday would be the perfect opportunity to start Pau Víctor up front but the youngster is another victim of the club’s incompetence, so Flick will likely be forced to use one of his best players from the start in this one. We think it’ll be Raphinha on the right wing, with Ansu Fati up front and Fermín López on the left completing the front trio.

Ferran Torres is still injured and unable to play, which makes Raphinha’s start almost a guarantee. Possible XI : Szczesny; Fort, Araujo, Eric, Martín; De Jong, Gavi; Raphinha, Torre, Fermín; Fati (4-2-3-1) How do you think Barcelona should line up against Barbastro? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and teams in the comments below!.