FC Barcelona heads to the Wanda Metropolitano Wednesday night for the 2nd leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal against Atletico Madrid in what surely will be one of the best matches of the season in Spain.
Sitting 4-4 after a scintillating 1st leg in Barcelona, Barca need to find a way to break down Atletico´s tight defense and conservative playing style if they want to see the final. Coach Diego Simeone surely will sit back and park a bus, a plane, and a spaceship in front of goal, as he´s known to do in important matches, and it will be up to Baca coach Hansi Flick and the FC Barcelona frontline to find a solutions.
After dropping out of the Champions League and falling behind in the La Liga title race with a 1-1 draw at RCD Espanyol last weekend, the Copa del Rey remains Atletico´s last chance to win a trophy this season, after starting the season looking capable of pushing for multiple trophies.
Perhaps Simeone´s pragmatic style of play has hindered them in the past 2 months, as he´s consistently sat back and defended despite having a roster of world class players. Knowing the form Barca is in he will certainly take the same approach on Wednesday night.
FC Barcelona Predicted Starting XI
With some players rested in the past 6 days, Flick will likely go with the strongest starting XI he can play. Wojciech Szczesny will certainly be in goal with Jules Kounde, Alex Balde and Iñigo Martinez in front of him, with the only question coming at the other center back spot. Pau Cubarsi is coming off his ankle injury and did feature against Girona FC on Sunday, however it will likely be Ronald Araujo who gets the nod after starting and playing a solid 90 minutes against Girona FC.
In the midfield Flick will go with Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and likely Fermin Lopez after Lopez turned in an outstanding performance against Girona FC. With Dani Olmo injured the only logical choices are Fermin or Gavi and I think he will go with Fermin.
Up front there´s no question Flick will deploy Raphina, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal.
With Real Madrid facing Real Sociedad in the other semifinal sitting on a 1-0 lead after the 1st leg, a Barcelona win could have us looking at a Clasico Copa del Rey Final on April 26th at the Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla. We can only hope.