{"id":497723,"date":"2026-01-15T11:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/racing-dreams-of-the-feat-against-barcelona-in-the-copa-del-rey\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:08:42","slug":"racing-dreams-of-the-feat-against-barcelona-in-the-copa-del-rey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/sports\/football\/racing-dreams-of-the-feat-against-barcelona-in-the-copa-del-rey\/","title":{"rendered":"Racing dreams of the feat against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/h2>\n\n\nSANTANDER.\u2013<\/strong> Just a few days after winning the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, FC Barcelona returns to action this Thursday in the Copa del Rey, where they will face Real Racing Club de Santander (21:00 CET) in a round of 16 match loaded with expectations at the Campos de Sport de El Sardinero.\n\n\n

You may be interested in:<\/a><\/strong>Copa del Rey: Atl\u00e9tico, Real Sociedad and Athletic, to quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nThe Cantabrian team, leader of the Second Division, faces the commitment with the illusion of achieving a historic qualification against the current champion of the tournament, while the Blaugrana arrive with several new features and important casualties.\n\nThe team led by Hansi Flick will feature for the first time Portuguese full-back Jo\u00e3o Cancelo, recently signed from Al-Hilal to replace the long-term absence of Dane Andreas Christensen. However, Pablo P\u00e1ez \u2018Gavi\u2019, who is still recovering from a knee injury, and Frenkie de Jong, suspended after his expulsion in the Super Cup final, will not be available.\n\n\n

Despite the difference in category, Flick has warned of Racing’s potential, which he described as an intense and high-quality team, so an alignment with too many rotations is not expected. Everything indicates that Joan Garc\u00eda will be the starting goalkeeper, replacing Marc-Andr\u00e9 ter Stegen, who played in the previous round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancelo and Araujo, options from the bench<\/h3>\n\n\nJo\u00e3o Cancelo could have his first minutes as a blaugrana, as well as the Uruguayan Ronald Araujo, who recently returned to competition after overcoming mental health problems, although neither of them is expected to be a starter.\n\nIn midfield, Flick is considering several alternatives, with Casad\u00f3 and Bernal as possible partners for Pedri, while in attack Roony Bardghji on the left, Marcus Rashford on the right, and Ferran Torres as the offensive reference could repeat, with Dani Olmo in the attacking midfield position.\n\n\n

Racing bets on order and counterattack<\/h3>\n\n\nRacing coach Jos\u00e9 Alberto L\u00f3pez has insisted throughout the week on the importance of defensive solidity and counter-attacking efficiency to hurt Barcelona. The green-and-white team recovers striker Juan Carlos Arana, author of the two goals in the previous round against Villarreal, and Georgian international Giorgi Guliashvili, one of the recent signings, could make his debut.\n\nIn addition, Pablo Ram\u00f3n and Cl\u00e9ment Michelin returned to training, while Asier Villalibre will be out. True to his policy in the tournament, Jos\u00e9 Alberto could field a team with several substitutes, with the exception of \u00c1lvaro Mantilla, who cannot play in the league due to accumulation of cards.\n\nThe tactical approach of Racing remains an unknown, with the doubt between the traditional 4-2-3-1 or a more conservative 5-3-2 to stop the azulgrana attack.\n\n\n

Match Details<\/h3>\n\n\nStadium:<\/strong> Campos de Sport El Sardinero
Time:<\/strong> 21:00 (CET)
Referee:<\/strong> Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda S\u00e1nchez (Murcian Committee)
VAR:<\/strong> David G\u00e1mez (Madrid Committee)\n\n\n

Probable Lineups<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\nRacing:<\/strong> Ezkieta; Mantilla, Manu Hernando, Javi Castro, Mario Garc\u00eda; \u00cd\u00f1igo Sainz-Maza, Maguette; Suleiman, Aldasoro, Guliashvili; Arana.\n\nBarcelona:<\/strong> Joan Garc\u00eda; Kound\u00e9, Eric Garc\u00eda, Gerard, Balde; Bernal, Casad\u00f3 or Pedri; Olmo; Roony, Rashford and Ferran.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SANTANDER.\u2013 Just a few days after winning the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, FC Barcelona returns to action this Thursday in the Copa del Rey, where they will face Real Racing Club de Santander (21:00 CET) in a round of 16 match loaded with expectations at the Campos de Sport de El Sardinero. You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40943],"tags":[611,40231,41186],"class_list":["post-497723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-football","tag-deultimominuto","tag-dominican-republic","tag-theperiodicodelatruth"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-25tN","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","dum_api":{"author_name":"EFE","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1200px-EFE_logo.svg-96x96.png","categories_name":["Football"],"featured_media_url":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}