Valencia vs Barcelona, Copa del Rey: Team News, Preview, Lineups, Score Prediction

Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona

Competition/Round: 2024-25 Copa del Rey, Quarter-Finals

Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Gavi, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal (out)

Valencia Outs & Doubts: Thierry Correia, Hugo Duro, Dimitri Foulquier (out)

Date/Time: Thursday, February 6, 2025, 9.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8.30pm GMT (UK), 3.30pm ET, 12.30pm PT (USA), 2am IST (India, Friday)

Venue: Estadio de Mestalla, València, Spain

Referee: Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias

VAR: Valentín Pizarro Gómez

How to watch on TV: Startimes World Football (Nigeria), TVE La 1 (Spain), others

How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others

Following a hard-fought and crucial La Liga victory over Alavés at the weekend, Barcelona return to action for a single-leg Copa del Rey quarter-final tie away to Valencia at the Estádio de Mestalla on Thursday night.

Barça come into this one after fully re-entering the league title race at the weekend and still unbeaten in 2025, and one of their best results so far this year was a spectacular 7-1 win over this Valencia team 10 days ago, with an amazing five-goal first half and a commanding performance from start to finish.

And anyone expecting the same thing to happen again in this one is quite simply wrong. Barça almost certainly won’t dominate and destroy Valencia, and they are in serious risk of losing this one and going out of the Cup. This could and should be a completely different Valencia side, with a different goal in the match and a much more aggressive tactical approach.

There is no second leg to play for, there is no position to protect in the league, there is no sense that a point against Barça or even a narrow loss is good enough; for Valencia this is a chance to get revenge and give the rest of their season something big to play for beyond just relegation, and they’ll have the support from their amazing home crowd, one of the very best in Spain, from start to finish.

Do no expect Los Che to faulter quickly and be as defensively focused as they tried to be 10 days ago; Valencia will be on the front foot, pressing Barça and trying to force mistakes in bad positions for the Blaugrana. There’s a real battle coming Barça’s way, and Hansi Flick’s troops need to be ready for it.

This is the mission for Barça: don’t take it for granted, understand this will be a tough one from the start, and play your best to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

Let’s dance.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Kounde, Eric, Cubarsí, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Ferran

Valencia (4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski; Aarons, Tárrega, Mosquera, Gayà; Guerra, Barrenechea; López, Almeida, Rioja; Mir

PREDICTION

This will be a lot, lot different than the 7-1. It’s a Cup tie, at Mestalla, with a Valencia team hungry for revenge. Anyone expecting a cakewalk is in for a rude awakening, but I’m still picking Barça to find a way: 2-1 to the good guys.

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