Hansi Flick’s plan to prepare Barcelona for the Copa del Rey final vs Real Madrid – report | OneFootball

Barcelona are well and truly into the business end of the season now and are within touching distance of a special treble. The schedule, however, is hectic for they must still play games on all fronts.

The most important clash for the Catalans in the coming weeks, needless to say, is the critical Clasico they play against Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey, a game that Los Blancos will take very seriously after their Champions League elimination.

As relayed by SPORT, Hansi Flick is already making plans for the big cup final and is looking to test his starting lineup later this week.

Best XI against Celta

Barcelona have constantly rotated important players in recent weeks given the hectic schedule thrust on the squad. For El Clasico, however, Flick plans to turn to his strongest available XI and unsurprisingly so.

As conveyed by the outlet, the manager is planning to start the same XI that he intends to deploy against Real Madrid later this week vs Celta Vigo.

For starters, the likes of Pedri and Inigo Martinez who sat out the recent game against Borussia Dortmund will return to the lineup and feature in the manager’s Gala XI.

Flick can make history with Barcelona. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez will thus start in central defence with Jules Kounde and Gerard Martin starting as the full-backs.

Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and Fermin Lopez will serve as the midfielders while Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha will feature in attack.

The objective of fielding the strongest XI against Celta Vigo is dual. First, it will give the players the chance to practice with each other ahead of the cup final.

Concurrently, however, it will improve Barcelona’s chances of winning and putting pressure on Real Madrid who play Athletic Club in a tricky fixture.

Flick also intends to rotate certain starters for the game against Mallorca which is just before the Copa del Rey final to keep players fit and fresh for the title clash.

The likes of Gerard Martin, Frenkie de Jong, Inigo Martinez and Robert Lewandowski could thus be benched for the game against Jagoba Arrasate’s men. After all, Barcelona are relatively bigger favourites on that night.