FC Barcelona's quest for Copa Del Rey restarts today with a tough away game against Athletico Madrid. This is one competition which Barca failed to master in recent years. Pep Guardiola would want to correct that this time around. The last time when this two team met, Barca thrashed Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou with a scoreline which read 6-1. This time around it could be a different story. First of all Athletico Madrid is not an easy place to travel; secondly Guardiola has decided to rest four of his main players. The players who won't be travelling are Gudjohnsen, Xavi, Valdes and Eto. Puyol, Marquez and Hleb are all carrying knocks and hence are rested as a precaution. The squad selected for the match is Pinto, Jorquera, Alves, Piqué, Caceres, Abidal, Sylvinho, Victor Sanchez, Toure, Busquets, Keita, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Bojan, Henry. Athletico Madrid's defense are pretty vulnerable but they have a very potent attack and it could be a real test for FC Barcelona defense who would be without the service of Puyol and Marquez.Jorquerra would be picked ahead of Pinto in this match, eventhough he had a pathetic outing in
the last Copa Del Rey match. He should be trying to redeem himself but then Athletico Madrid is not the place or the team where you try to pick your form back. He is destined to have a torrid time. Abidal and Alves would be the two full backs and would be called upon many times to help out the defense. Toure, Keita and Busquets may form the midfield. Iniesta is most likely to occupy the front left, with Henry moving into center and Messi on the right. With such an inexperienced Central Defense Guardiola may prefer a more defensive oriented midfield. There could be another possibility of Iniest moving into the midfield with Bojan spear heading the front three. The key to today's game would be to come out unhurt. FC Barcelona is bound to get goals especially considering the fragile Atletico defense but we are also in danger as our central defenders are more error-prone. My prediction would be FC Barcelona winning by a scoreline of 1-2.