Valencia vs Barcelona, Copa del Rey 2nd leg: Team News, Match Preview
The two best teams in Spain clash for a second time in seven days to book a place in the Final
Valencia vs Barcelona
Competition/Round: Copa del Rey semi-final, 2nd leg
First leg result: Barcelona 1-0 Valencia
Barcelona injuries: Ousmane Dembélé, Thomas Vermaelen
Valencia injuries: Andreas Pereira, Gonçalo Guedes, Jeison Murillo
Date/Time: Thursday, February 8, 2018, 9.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8.30pm GMT (UK), 3.30pm EST, 12.30pm PST (USA), 2am IST (India, next day)
Venue: Estadio de Mestalla, València, Spain
How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Kwesé Sports 1 (Nigeria), others
How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA & Canada), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)
Barcelona continue to go through the madness of January and February looking to stay alive in all competitions, and on Thursday night they have a chance to reach the Copa del Rey Final as they play the second leg of the semi-final against Valencia. Barça won the first leg 1-0 thanks to a goal from Luis Suárez, but this tie is far from over.
The Bats played a very good defensive match at the Camp Nou, and they’ll have to change their gameplan to attack more and try to get at least one goal. The good thing for Valencia is that they’re really, really good at attacking and scoring at least one goal, so it’ll be no problem for Marcelino and his boys to go after Barça and try to get the upset.
The winner of Thursday’s clash will face Sevilla in the Final, so we’re guaranteed a high-profile title game. We just need to know if it’ll be Valencia or Barcelona.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-4-2): Cillessen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Roberto, Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez
Valencia (4-4-2): Jaume; Montoya, Gabriel, Garay, Gayà; Soler, Parejo, Kondogbia, Lato; Rodrigo, Santi Mina
PREDICTION
This will be EXTREMELY tough, and we might have to rely on a late, late, late, late, late goal to save us: I’m going for a 2-1 loss, and through on the away goal. Barça will be dishing out heart attacks tomorrow, Oprah style.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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