Unionistas de Salamanca CF vs FC Barcelona: Copa del Rey Match Preview

FC Barcelona, fresh off yet another disappointing defeat, find themselves in perhaps the lowest place they've been all season. They need a win, but more importantly, they need to play well. They need to start looking like a team that can challenge for titles again. As Xavi says, rightly so, there are still 3 trophies to fight for this season.

Barça travel to Salamanca in this context as they look to rebound against Unionistas de Salamanca CF. One of the aforementioned titles still in play, the Copa del Rey, is in the round of 16. Xavi's squad will be missing several key players to injury, such as Gavi, Cancelo, and Raphinha, while Ronald Araújo and Lamine Yamal will be suspended.

As for the rival, Unionistas is quite a young club, having been founded in 2013. They're currently 13th in their league table. On paper, Barça should be able to come out of this one with a comfortable win, but games aren't played on paper. Time will tell if a win tonight can get them on a winning streak and sway Barça's fortunes for the rest of this season.

Selected Squad:

Balde, Ferran, Pedri, Lewandowski, Iñaki Peña, João Félix, Christensen, Romeu, Vitor Roque, Sergi Roberto, Frenkie De Jong, Gündoğan, Kounde, Astralaga, Marc Casadó, Kochen, Fermín, Pau Cubarsí, Pau Víctor, Marc Guiu and Héctor Fort.

Predicted Lineups:

Unionistas de Salamanca predicted lineup: Martinez; Camus, Mayor, Gimenez, Jimenez; Gomez, Nespral, Villar, Planas; Slavy, Losada.

Barcelona predicted lineup: Peña; Fort, Koundé, Christensen, Balde; Fermin, Romeu, De Jong; Torres, Roque, Felix.

It's likely that Xavi will use quite a bit of his youth players in this one, with Vitor Roque having a good chance to start his first match for the Catalan team. Héctor Fort could also see some time after recently impressing with the first team, as well as Marc Guiu.

It's incredibly important for Barça to put aside their latest defeat and just focus on stringing together a few wins. Good football will come with results, and with a team as talented as this one, Xavi and his staff will surely be able to right the ship and get themselves back on the winning track. At least, that's what we hope.