Barça B to play Sabadell for place in Segunda División

Barça B's 50th anniversary celebrations will have an extraordinary finale on July 26. The FC Barcelona second team will participate in the Playoff finals for promotion to the Segunda División, against Sabadell at 8pm CEST at the Estadio Municipal Antonio Lorenzo Cuevas. At stake is a place in LaLiga SmartBank for the 2020/21 season, joining already-promoted Logroñés and Cartagena. Castellón and Cornellà will contest the other final, on the same day at 10pm CEST, at the Estadio de La Rosaleda in Malaga. The four finalists all hail from Grupo III of the Segunda División B, showing the strength of a group formed by Catalan, Valencian and Aragonese teams. 

This Barça B side is the youngest in history, and are pursuing a seventh promotion to the Segunda División. They have faced Sabadell on 51 occasions since 1974, with the most recent meeting coming this season with a 1-0 win in the league. Of the 14 Barça B players who participated in that league encounter, only 8 are available for the final: Iñaki Peña, Morer, Araujo, Akieme, Monchu, Jandro, Mingueza and Jorge Cuenca.

Coincidentally, Barça B and Sabadell were set to meet at the Nova Creu Alta on the same week that the league was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A seventh promotion to the Segunda División

Barça B, under García Pimienta, are looking for promotion to the second tier for the seventh time. They previously did so with coaches Lluís Aloy (1973/74), Antoni Torres (1981/82), Quique Costas (1991/92), Josep Maria Gonzalvo (1997/98), Luis Enrique (2009/10) and Gerard López (2016/17). Sabadell come into the game having beaten Atletico Madrid B and Cultural Leonesa on penalties. This weekend they will play one another for the 52nd time.