How will Barcelona line up against Guadalajara in their Copa del Rey debut?

Barcelona begin their defense of the Spanish Cup title in their penultimate match of 2025 when the Blaugrana travel to the Castilla-La Mancha region near Madrid to face CD Guadalajara from the Spanish Third Division in the Copa del Rey Round of 32.

This is a one-off tie that will decide a place in the Last 16 next month, and the Catalan giants will be big favorites to advance against a Guadalajara side currently battling against relegation to the fourth tier.

Here’s how we think Hansi Flick will line up his troops for Tuesday’s battle:

Defense

Trying to figure out Barça’s starting lineup for the first Copa del Rey game of the season against a lower-level team is an impossible task because we don’t know which players need a rest and who Flick wants to give a chance to play more minutes. So here’s our best guess, and don’t hold it against us if we’re wrong.

We think Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde are locks to get a rest in the full-back positions, with young Jofre Torrents almost guaranteed to start this one at left-back. We also think Gerard ‘Maldini’ Martín, who is a starter these days, will get the night off, and Andreas Christensen will finally get a chance to start at center-back.

This would be a perfect game for Ronald Araujo to start in a low-pressure situation, but the Uruguayan is unfortunately still not ready to return, so picking Christensen’s partner is tricky. There’s a non-zero chance that Frenkie de Jong starts at the back, but we think Flick will be safe and give Pau Cubarsí the nod from the start with Eric Garcia replacing Kounde at right-back.

There is also a doubt in goal with Marc-André ter Stegen ready to play again and probably hoping for a few minutes before his future is decided in January, even though reports say Wojciech Szczesny is the backup goalkeeper and the Pole returned to training on Sunday after missing out against Osasuna through illness.

Midfield

Frenkie de Jong is probably starting regardless of his actual position to get more minutes under his belt after having a limited role recently, and we think it’ll be alongside Marc Casadó in the double pivot if Marc Bernal isn’t quite ready to play from the beginning. Fermín López will probably start in the number 10 role, and he’ll be looking to play a big part to regain his spot in the regular XI due to his struggles since returning from injury.

Attack

The front three is unlikely to feature Robert Lewandowski, who missed Saturday’s game against Osasuna with back and hamstring issues and didn’t train at all on Sunday. Roony Bardghji is a lock to replace Lamine Yamal in the XI for this one, and we think Dro Fernández will start on the left where he’s been most effective so far. The striker spot will come down to Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres, and we think The Shark will keep his place up front for this one.

Possible XI: Szczesny; Eric, Cubarsí, Christensen, Jofre; Casadó, De Jong; Roony, Fermín, Dro; Ferran (4-2-3-1)

How do you think Barcelona should line up against Guadalajara? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and teams in the comments below!