CD Guadalajara vs FC Barcelona
Competition/Round: 2025-26 Copa del Rey, Round of 32
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Dani Olmo (out)
Guadalajara Outs & Doubts: None
Date/Time: Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Wednesday)
Venue: Estadio Pedro Escartín, Guadalajara, Spain
Referee: César Soto Grado
How to watch on TV: Not Available (USA), Premier Sports 1 (UK), Startimes (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), Premier Sports Player (UK), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a comfortable home win against Osasuna to maintain their advantage at the top of the La Liga table, Barcelona travel to the Castilla-La Mancha region just outside of Madrid for their debut in this season’s Copa del Rey as they play a one-off Round of 32 tie against Third Division Guadalajara on Tuesday Night Fútbol.
Barça come into this one ready to begin their defense of the Spanish Cup title, which they won in memorable fashion against Real Madrid last season. The Blaugrana have won more Copa titles than anyone, and Hansi Flick made it clear in his pre-match press conference that the goal is to add one more Cup trophy to their cabinet.
The Catalans will be the obvious favorites on Tuesday, but early rounds of the Cup are never as straightforward as they seem on paper. Guadalajara players celebrated getting the tie with Barça as if they’d won a trophy, the city will be ready for a historic night, and the team will give everything to pull off a giant killing against the reigning champs.
Guadalajara’s form doesn’t exactly bode well for their chances, with just one win in their last 12 in the league that’s put them squarely in the middle of a relegation fight. They’ve arrived at this stage of the Cup with two wins against teams pretty much at their level, and they’re yet to face a team anywhere near as good as Barça. But that still doesn’t mean things will be easy for Hansi Flick and his troops.
Third tier teams in Spain play a very specific style, with a ton of physicality and transition play that is aided by pitches that are as small as possible and not exactly in the best condition, to put it mildly. Teams that love to play and pass the ball can struggle to adapt to the unique conditions of this division, so we might see Barça get off to a slow start as they come to grips with a much different environment.
The Blaugrana will be expected to show their quality and find a way to get through this comfortably in the end, but they should be ready for a real battle against a team that can play free and with absolutely nothing to lose.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Eric, Cubarsí, Christensen, Jofre; Casadó, De Jong; Roony, Fermín, Dro; Ferran
Guadalajara (4-2-3-1): Vicente; Mayo, Rodríguez, Ablanque, Casado; Rojo, Calvo; Díaz, Ramírez, Muñoz; Cañizo
PREDICTION
Spanish Third Division teams are especially physical, and the small (and probably bad) pitch will suit Guadalajara’s style a lot more than Barça’s. But I still expect Flick’s troops to eventually establish their superior quality and advance to the next round: 3-0 to the visitors.
