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FC Barcelona are set to take on rivals Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-final on April 3 at the Wanda Metropolitano. The Blaugrana have been in blistering form since coming back from the international break with dominating 3-0 and 4-1 wins against Osasuna and Girona respectively in the league. However, they missed the services of two key players namely; Raphinha and Pau Cubarsi. Both of these players have been an integral part of Hansi Flick’s squad with key contributions over the entire season. Raphinha has had a redemption season under Flick, becoming one of the club’s captains and scoring 20 goals and providing five assists so far.
18-year old Pau Cubarsi also cemented his place as a starter alongside Inigo Martinez and proved to be a vital cog in Barcelona’s style of play. His meteoric rise has proven to be extremely beneficial to Barcelona as well as to the Spanish national team recently. However, the big question is whether these two players will feature in Barcelona’s upcoming clash against Atletico Madrid. Hansi Flick spoke to the press before this big tie and cleared the air about the availability of these players by saying, “Raphinha and Pau Cubarsi are back available and ready to play against Atletico.”
What will be the ideal CB pairing for Hansi Flick against Atletico Madrid?
Raphinha, who was rested due to excessive fatigue from the international break matches, is expected to start the game against Atletico alongside Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal. Pau Cubarsi on the other hand, would be fighting with Inigo Martinez and Ronald Araujo for a spot in the heart of the defence and it will be interesting to see whether Flick prefers to go for Araujo’s physicality or chooses Cubarsi’s ball progression abilities against the Madrid side.
The Copa Del Rey match is set to be a fiery fixture as the first leg ended with a scoreline of 4-4 at the Montjuic Stadium. Between these two legs, Barca and Atletico had faced off each other in La Liga at the Wanda Metropolitano, where Barca came out victorious with a thrilling come-back to finish the game 4-2.
