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Rayo Vallecano vs. Barcelona - prediction

Barcelona will endeavour to advance to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey when they travel to Segunda Division side Rayo Vallecano for Wednesday's fourth-round battle.

Ronald Koeman's men overcame Cornella in the third round to set up a tie with Vallecano, who have already beaten Teruel, Haro Deportivo and Elche in this season's tournament.

Rayo Vallecano's promotion prospects are certainly looking good as the business end of the season approaches, although their six-game winning streak across all competitions was recently ended by fellow high-flyers Mallorca on Saturday.

Andoni Iraola's men are now eight points adrift of the automatic promotion places, but a spot in the playoffs is certainly on the cards for a Vallecano side who last plied their trade in the big time during the 2018-19 campaign.

As far as their Copa del Rey fortunes are concerned, this week's hosts scraped by against Tercera Division side Teruel in round one but have since eased past Haro Deportivo and La Liga relegation candidates Elche - with former Manchester United winger Bebe scoring the opener in that one.

The last time that Vallecano advanced past this stage of the competition was back in the 2001-02 season - where Real Madrid dumped them out in the quarter-finals - and Villarreal eased to a 2-0 win over the Segunda Division side in the round of 16 last year.

A struggling Elche side were also the most recent victims of Barcelona, who are slowly closing in on the two capital sides in the race for La Liga glory.

Koeman's side enjoyed their second 2-0 victory in a matter of days as Frenkie de Jong and Riqui Puig both struck against Elche, with that result seeing Barcelona remain in third in the standings - 10 points behind current leaders Atletico Madrid, who have a game in hand.

Vallecano lost central defender Emiliano Velazquez to injury against Mallorca - by which point they had already shipped three goals - and he will certainly miss out here.

Esteban Saveljich should therefore take his place in the backline for Iraola, who himself was sent off at the weekend for protesting.

Meanwhile, wantway Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi is back for this game after serving a two-game suspension for his red card against Athletic Bilbao, and it would not be a surprise to see him make an immediate return with Antoine Griezmann due a rest.

Sergino Dest shook off a minor injury to make the bench against Elche but has been ruled out of this one, while the 20-year-old's fellow right-back Sergi Roberto is not thought to be too far away from a return to action.

Miralem PjanicClement Lenglet and Junior Firpo will all hope to return to the side, while Puig will hope to have done enough to earn just his second start of the season in all competitions.

Rayo Vallecano possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Advincula, Catena, Saveljich, F. Garcia; Suarez, Comesana; Palazon, Trejo, A. Garcia; Bebe

Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Neto; Mingueza, Lenglet, Araujo, Firpo; Busquets, Pjanic, Puig; Trincao, Braithwaite, Messi

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