Barcelona v Cultural Leonesa- Preview and possible lineups

by Ciara Fleming @rfutbol - 04 Dec 18 0 6,985

Barcelona will look to press home their advantage from the first leg. EFE

Barcelona v Cultural Leonesa- Preview and possible lineups

by Ciara Fleming @rfutbol - 04 Dec 2018 0 6,985

We take a look ahead to the second leg of the Copa del Rey tie between Barcelona and Cultural Leonesa from the Nou Camp.

TEAM NEWS:

Barcelona:

As defending champions, Barcelona may have even more motivation to add to their 30 strong Copa del Rey taly at the end of the season.

For that to happen however, they must still continue to win through against lower league opposition such as Cultural Leonesa. The 'Blaugrana' struggled in the first leg against the second division dside, needing a late Clement Lenglet header in order to assure an advantage for the home fixture.

Having said this, Ernesto Valverde may take the chance to play many of the younger or out of favor members of his squad, ahead of the Catalan derby against Espanyol in La Liga this weekend.

The big team news for the hosts is the potential inclusion of 19 year old keeper Inaki Pena; who could make his senior Barcelona debut, as second choice stopper Jasper Cillessen is struggling with a foot problem.

Cultural Leonesa:

In contrast to their hosts, Leonesa are bidding to make it to the last 16 of the Copa del Rey for the first time since 1959-60, but will have to pull off one of the biggest shocks in history in order to achieve that.

'La Cultu' will draw encouragement from their performance in the first leg of the tie, when they pushed Barcelona until the last, when finally the bigger side's quality paid off.

Leonesa's cup journey started way back in September, and they have already come through three ties before facing Barcelona. Yet given a current slump in form, the away side will need a miracle at the Camp Nou in order to qualify for the next round.

There are no fresh injury scares for the visitors, with Aridane Santana and Jose Luis Garcia set to line up at the top of the field come Wednesday night.

PRE-MATCH MUSINGS:

Ernesto Valverde on the first leg, and expectations for Wednesday:

"The first leg was very tough and we struggled. We want to win tomorrow for our fans"

“I would like to say some words about Núñez. He was the president who brought me to Barça as a player. At the end of last season, he sent me a letter congratulating me on our titles. Hopefully we can dedicate a win to him tomorrow"

Victor Cea on curent form and competing in the Cup:

"Now it's time to compete in the Cup, but the top priority is the league, where we need to give our best version of ourselves, we want that after Sunday's game, people leave proud of their team, we have to change many things"

"In the Cup we will seek to compete. Although we know that the fundamental test arrives on Sunday, we are not going to waste the opportunity to defend the badge wherever it is necessary"

FORM GUIDE: