The Copa del Rey comes into play for FC Barcelona. After not contesting the first two rounds of the competition because of being a participant in the Spanish Super Cup, the Catalans begin their adventure in the Round of 16 of a tournament that this year also premieres a new format. Their rivals will be known after the draw that will take place this Tuesday, in Las Rozas, starting at 1.00pm CET.
According to the criteria, in this round the four teams that have played the Spanish Super Cup (Barça, Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Valencia) will face one of the lesser-ranked rivals at their home. In this case, then, Barça will have to visit the stadium of one of the eight Segunda B teams that are still alive in the competition: Badalona, Badajoz, Cultural Leonesa, Ebro, Ibiza, Recreativo de Huelva, UD Logroñés and Unionistas de Salamanca.
The closest would be against Badalona, a team who eliminated Oviedo in the first round and Getafe this past weekend, and whose stadium is just 18 km from Camp Nou. The longest trip would be to visit the Nuevo Colombino, against Recreativo de Huelva. This historic Spanish football club are now in Segunda B and have reached this round after eliminating Hercules, from Segunda B, and Fuenlabrada, from Segunda, this past Saturday.
It should be remembered that in the Round of 16, 18 teams from LaLiga, 6 from Segunda and 8 from Segunda B will participate, and that a single tie will be played between Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 January.
