Barcelona travels to the Basque nation as they face Atletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of the Copa Del Rey. The match has been overshadowed by a looming crisis at the Catalan club involving star player Lionel Messi and the clubs sporting director Eric Abidal.
Barcelona has been far from impressive in the last couple of months and largely depends on the genius of reigning World Player Of The year to bail them out in almost every single match.
The La Liga defending champions surrendered their spot at the top of the table to bitter rivals Real Madrid and could find out of the Copa should they play as they have since the turn of the year. Bilbao has lost just once in their last five matches meaning this will not be a walk in the park for Messi and Co.
Team News
Unlike his counterpart in the Athletic Bilbao dugout, Quique Setien has one major problem area troubling him ahead of the trip to the Basque Country. On Thursday, the Barcelona boss will be without three first-team players, with attack posing a huge issue.
Luis Suarez (knee) and Ousmane Dembele (hamstring) are long-term absentees, with the duo expected to miss out much of the remainder of the season, if not all of it. The only other player who is sidelined is backup goalkeeper Neto.
With the usual cup goalkeeper unavailable, Marc-Andre ter Stegen will start in goal once again. Nelson Semedo seems to have usurped Sergi Roberto of late, but the Spanish international could get a chance to impress and will start at right-back. On the opposite flank, Junior Firpo should start, giving Jordi Alba the opportunity to get a breather.
Gerard Pique is a certain starter at the heart of the Barcelona defence, seeing as he will be serving a suspension this weekend in the league. Pique’s central defensive partner should be Samuel Umtiti. The rest of the team should have a strong composition, with Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong starting in midfield.
Busquets will be deployed at the base of the three-man midfield, with de Jong reprising a more advanced role. The third man in the middle of the park ought to be Arthur, who will be hoping to make an impression. Up ahead in attack, there is no looking past Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Ansu Fati, with Alex Collado being the backup option.
Betting Tip
Both teams to score