Copa del Rey Preview: Cultural Leonesa vs FC Barcelona

By: Ade C. | October 28th, 2009

Today is the day in which we embark in yet another competition. F.C. Barcelona enters the Copa del Rey race with a thrilling match against Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa, a modest team that is currently sitting at the lower end of its group table in Segunda B (the third-tier league), currently risking slipping into Tercera (fourth-tier).

But remember, one of Lord Pep’s maxims is that you can’t trust anyone. Perfect strangers in the shape of Russian teams can come to the Camp Nou and beat us. Last year, an ickle Segunda B team knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey, Iker Casillas notwithstanding, not to mention that it was an ickle Segunda B team that yesterday beat Real Madrid 4-0.

So, we’re taking this match seriously. And, to demonstrate our commitment to give a good show and make every team we face feel important, we’re only leaving home a few guys: Leo Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué. I don’t know whether you’ve ever heard of any of them, but if it helps, I was told that Piqué is the guy who made a series of ads for a jeweler’s.

What do you mean we’re *not* taking this match seriously? Absences? What absences?

Yes, yes, of course it’s understandable. Messi, for a start, needs a rest after the chaos of internationals and giving his all against Rubin Kazan and Zaragoza. Ibrahimovic still has some pain in the knee that an Albanian knocked. Puyol was complaining about his ankle in the second half against Zaragoza. Piqué and Xavi have played virtually everything for both Barcelona and Spain, and need a bit of a rest. And Iniesta is picking up the pace after his injury.

What do we have instead? Well, the list of players Pep is taking reads like this: Valdés, Pinto; Benítez, Chygrynskiy, Márquez, Fontàs, Abidal, Maxwell; Touré, Jonathan dos Santos, Busquets, Gai Assulin, Keita; Pedro, Jeffren, Bojan and Jonatan Soriano. Yes, five boys from the youth team, and one of them will have to watch the match from the stands, though, since we can only enter 16 players for Copa del Rey matches.

Our main problem is the right flank. With Dani Alves experiencing a serious injury for the first time since he joined us, and Puyol having a bit of a well-deserved rest, we’ve had to reach into the spring of young players that is Barça B in search of a solution. And found that they’re also having problems covering the right flank. So we’ve dug deeper and came up with a young man called Iván Benítez (no relation to Rafa, I hope), who usually plays fullback but can adapt to fill in Dani’s big shoes. Pep’s other option, of course, is to take one of the two very talented men we have running on the opposite flank and make them change sides, but to be honest I’d rather have a young one giving his all, than Maxwell or Abidal trying to get used to the new position.

OMG! It’s Pep Guardiola. He’s talking to me. He’s touching me! He knows my name! Breathe, now, Iván, breathe...

Elsewhere, we’re flush with talent. Bojan, who was vital in getting the Copa last season, is back from injury and itching to play; Pedrito can come in anytime with his providential, oh-so-elegant goals; Jeffren got a few minutes’ play against Zaragoza in what seems a move designed to prep him for this match. Touré, Busquets and the Man of the Week, Keita, can lend some gravitas to the midfield. Rafa Marquez and Chygrynskiy can get more time on the pitch to recover their form after their respective injuries. Maxwell and Abidal both have done well and more than well playing on the left.

My predicted line-up?

————————–Pinto————————-
Benítez—Márquez—Chygrysnkiy—Maxwell
————————Touré————————–
——————Busquets—Keita———————-
—————-Jeffren—Bojan—Pedrito—————–

With Fontás to come in if Rafa or Dima get into trouble, and possibly some experimenting in the midfield, according to how willing Cultural Leonesa are to roll over and play dead (my guess? Not much). Gai Assulin or former Espanyolista Jonathan Soriano can sub in for any of the strikers.

Now, what do we know about our rivals? Preciously little, to be honest. They were delighted to be drawn against us, and promptly hiked out the price of the tickets to their seat, the Reino de León stadium, and sold them out. Their star player is Barcelona born-and-bred Jito, who is a declared fan of our local enemies, Espanyol; he’s a nice, effective striker who has scored 9 of the 9 goals the Cultural Leonesa has on their tally this season, and I bet he’d love to put one past Pinto.

I couldn’t find a bigger picture, but look at them! They’re dressed in white! Isn’t that enough for us to want to beat them?

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa was founded in 1923, as a result of joining Gimnástica and La Victoria, two smaller teams of the city of León. In 1926, it won the fifth-tier championship, and made it into Segunda by 1927. Their biggest achievement so far has been to play a whole season (54-55) in la Liga as we know it, although they couldn’t keep up with the big boys and have dithered between the lower tiers since then.

So far, this season has been poor for them. They are sitting 17th out of the 20 teams of their group in Segunda B, with only two wins, four draws and four losses to their name; their goal average wouldn’t keep anyone awake at night. However, Josu Uribe, their manager, thinks that “victory is possible”, but also that “a draw here in León wouldn’t be a bad result”.

Pep, on the other hand, has made clear that we are taking the match seriously and that Barça “never gives away anything. Not a match, much less a competition”; he acknowledges that having a return leg makes things easier for Barcelona, but also reminds us that last season we barely got past Segunda B team Benidorm at this stage (Pep, always so optimistic!).

Me, I’m happy. Sunday’s match against Zaragoza quelled any doubts I could have harboured about the team. I’m full of confidence in the young ones, who are going to try their damnedest to impress Pep. I predict a comfortable 0-3 victory for Barça. And you?