Barcelona solely entered the Copa del Rey within the Spherical of 32 the place they beat UD Barbastro convincingly to ebook a spot within the pre-quarterfinals.
Tomorrow, they return to motion within the competitors as soon as extra, this time in a one-off knockout sport towards Actual Betis.
The sport at Montjuic will see Barcelona host the staff they drew with simply final month. Furthermore, Los Verdiblancos have been in an honest run of type in current weeks with seven straight video games undefeated till their loss to Actual Valladolid final weekend.
Manuel Pellegrini’s aspect made it to the Spherical of 16 after a hard-fought battle towards Huesca the place they received by a 1-0 margin courtesy of a objective from Isco. The sport towards Barcelona, evidently, will likely be a far greater blockbuster.
Barça Common brings you three speaking factors forward of Barcelona vs Actual Betis.
Aiming for the subsequent star
After a trophyless season final time round, Barcelona broke their drought for silverware by successful the Spanish Tremendous Cup final weekend and did so in the perfect method attainable.
In spite of everything, it’s not day-after-day that the staff can boast of lifting the title instantly beating their arch-rivals. It being a 5-2 hammering solely makes the win all of the extra particular.
Contemporary off the sensation of turning into champions, nevertheless, Barcelona haven’t any time to rejoice as they need to hit the reset button and deal with the target that lies forward. It’s time to look in the direction of the subsequent trophy on the road, particularly on condition that it’s a knockout occasion.
The onus of bringing the staff’s toes again to the bottom and suppressing the euphoria falls on the supervisor and the veterans, and an enormous a part of how Barcelona carry out tomorrow will depend upon whether or not the gamers are nonetheless misplaced within the hangover of Sunday’s win.
Actual Betis, in spite of everything, is a frightening opposition that created issues for Barcelona not too way back. The staff should thus come out in search of vengeance and present no respite towards Los Verdiblancos.
The rotation query
Will Hansi Flick rotate his troops? (Photograph by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Photos)
Barcelona have the house benefit towards Actual Betis heading into tomorrow’s conflict. Nevertheless, it’s the guests who’ve the higher emotions from their final assembly.
Barcelona and Betis met on the finish of final 12 months on the Benito Villamarin and the sport didn’t fairly go how Hansi Flick deliberate.
His aspect went a objective up within the first half however quickly conceded an equalizer after an pointless penalty was conceded by Frenkie de Jong. They then took the lead once more within the 82nd minute, solely to concede an equalizer in further time.
Having dropped factors to the lads in green-and-white simply over a month in the past, Flick should thus weigh his choices and determine to what extent he plans to rotate the staff within the cup conflict.
Inaki Pena will begin in objective owing to Wojciech Szczesny’s suspension whereas Ronald Araujo will take Inigo Martinez’s place. Barring that, nevertheless, the supervisor won’t look to make drastic adjustments in his dynamics.
The cup conflict tomorrow is a direct knockout and thus a must-win for Barcelona. The entrance three will seemingly be unaltered however there’s a probability Gavi could also be benched for both Dani Olmo or Fermin Lopez.
All eyes on Araujo
The saga of Ronald Araujo’s future has taken a weird twist in current weeks and it has grow to be more and more clear that the participant is pursuing a transfer to Juventus.
At first, it appeared odd why the captain of a high-flying Barcelona would want for a transfer to the Outdated Woman. Nevertheless, it has now come to gentle that it was his entourage who saved him at the hours of darkness over Barcelona’s renewal proposals and brewed misunderstanding.
Inigo Martinez’s harm is certainly an enormous blow for the Catalans, nevertheless it additionally comes as a well timed reminder to Araujo as to how worthwhile he’s in Flick’s plans. Furthermore, it ensures him a beginning place for a minimum of a month and sufficient time to cement his place.
Araujo will thus begin within the Basque warrior’s place tomorrow in what would be the first of many alternatives to come back for him within the coming weeks.
All eyes will likely be on his efficiency, dedication to the badge, and physique language for that may converse rather a lot about his inner battle and whether or not he’ll keep on the membership. Barcelona want him and can hope tomorrow’s sport helps him change his thoughts.