FC Barcelona announce squad for Copa del Rey quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana travel to the Basque Country for a monster Copa del Rey quarter-final tie against Athletic Bilbao, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 22 players for Wednesday’s game:

Goalkeepers: 13. Iñaki Peña, 26. Ander Astralaga, 36. Aron Yaakobishvili

Defenders: 2. João Cancelo, 3. Alejandro Balde, 4. Ronald Araujo, 15. Andreas Christensen, 23. Jules Kounde, 33. Pau Cubarsí, 39. Héctor Fort

Midfielders: 8. Pedri, 18. Oriol Romeu, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Frenkie de Jong, 22. Ilkay Gündogan, 32. Fermín López

Forwards: 7. Ferran Torres, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 14. João Félix, 19. Vitor Roque, 27. Lamine Yamal, 38. Marc Guiu

Barça get a massive double boost to their defense for this one as two key players return: João Cancelo is back after missing the last three weeks with a knee injury, and Andreas Christensen is also fit again after sitting out at the weekend with a bruised foot. There are still several players out for this one, however, with Raphinha (hamstring), Iñigo Martínez (hamstring), Marc-André ter Stegen (back), Marcos Alonso (back) and Gavi (knee) all missing due to injury.

Predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1):

Peña; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; Gündogan, De Jong; Yamal, Pedri, Ferran; Lewandowski

The match kicks off at 9.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8.30pm GMT (UK), 3.30pm ET, 12.30pm PT (USA), 2am IST (India, Thursday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

VISCA EL BARÇA!