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Cornella vs. Barcelona - prediction

 Barcelona will be looking to bounce back immediately from their Spanish Super Cup disappointment when they travel to third-tier side Cornella for Thursday's Copa del Rey bout.

The hosts will not make life easy for Ronald Koeman's men, though, as they overcame La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid to reach the third round.

A first-ever red card for Lionel Messi in his Barcelona career epitomised the Catalan giants' night against Athletic, who lifted the Spanish Super Cup after a 3-2 win over Koeman's side in extra time, with Inaki Williams scoring a delightful winner at the Estadio de La Cartuja.

Defeat on Sunday evening ended La Blaugrana's four-game winning run across all competitions - as well as preventing them from going 10 games unbeaten - and denied Koeman his maiden piece of silverware in the Camp Nou dugout.

The hero of Cornella's victory over Atletico - Adrian Jimenez - tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a league fixture with Gimnastic last weekend and will sadly be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Should Fernandez opt to switch to the 5-3-2 system which worked wonders against the La Liga leaders, Albert Estelles would be a candidate to fill the void left by Jimenez's absence.

Birmingham City loanees Agus Medina and Ivan Guzman could both be in line for starts in one of the biggest games in Cornella's 70-year history.

Messi could reportedly be facing a 12-game ban for lashing out at Athletic's Asier Villalibre in Sunday's defeat, and while the length of his suspension is yet to be determined, he will definitely not be available here.

It would have been a surprise to see the wantaway Argentine line up on Thursday anyway as wholesale changes are expected from Koeman, starting with Martin Braithwaite and Trincao enjoying starts up top.

Second-choice goalkeeper Neto should be given a run-out here, while out-of-favour defenders such as Samuel UmtitiJunior Firpo and the young Oscar Mingueza will be vying for starts.

Miralem Pjanic and Riqui Puig both came off the bench in the defeat to Athletic and are likely to feature from the off in Koeman's midfield this week.

Cornella possible starting lineup:
Juan; Guzman, Moreno, Garcia, Estelles, Prieto; Medina, Presa, Gila; Ontiveros, Fernandez

Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Neto; Dest, Mingueza, Umtiti, Firpo; Pjanic, Puig; Trincao, Pedri, Griezmann; Braithwaite

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