Two Barcelona players set to make their first appearances this season against UD Barbastro | OneFootball

FC Barcelona have been struggling in La Liga as of late and it definitely seems to have taken a toll on the team. Several factors coupled together have resulted in this rather unfortunate run of form and they need to be addressed as soon as possible. However, La Liga is not the only competition that Barcelona needs to worry about.

In January, the Catalan giants will have to take part in the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup as well. Both competitions will be important for Barcelona, but since both will take place alongside matches in La Liga and the UEFA Champions, there will be a need to make rotations here and there.

For that reason, the first match in the Copa del Rey against UD Barbastro will give Hansi Flick the opportunity to make some changes and give players who did not get a lot of opportunities to play a part for the team. Moreover, it will likely allow two players to make their first appearance this season as well.

According to AS, both Wojciech Szczesny and Ronald Araujo look set to start for Barcelona in that particular game. For both of those players, it will be an opportunity to prove their quality to the new coach while also finally getting some minutes in to get back into match rhythm.

In the case of Szczesny, the Polish goalkeeper always knew that his involvement this season would likely not be guaranteed. With Hansi Flick regularly confirming that he had faith in Inaki Pena to continue delivering good performances, it meant that the Pole would likely have a secondary role this season.

Araujo’s case, however, is slightly different. The Uruguayan defender is always expected to be one of the first names on the team sheet but an injury in the summer kept him sidelined well into the season as well. Now that he has returned, however, Flick has not had the opportunity to use him in any game due to Barça’s poor results in recent games.

Against Barbastro, however, there is a chance to finally test the Uruguayan defender in a game where the opposition’s level is comparatively lower than the typical opponents that Barcelona play against. Still, that does not mean that Hansi Flick’s side should underestimate their Copa del Rey opponents, and La Blaugrana will be expected to fight to the best of their abilities.

In other news, Ferran Torres was confirmed to be injured and will end up missing that particular encounter. Others such as Lamine Yamal, Marc Bernal, Andreas Christensen, and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen will also all likely miss the game as well.