All about the Copa del Rey draw
Monday at 1pm CET brings the draw for the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, which is the round when FC Barcelona, plus the other three teams competing in the Spanish Super Cup (Real Madrid, Athletic Club and Mallorca) enter the competition.
Four possible opponents
According to the seeding process, the four Spanish Super Cup qualifiers will be playing their games away from home against the four lowest ranked sides in the competition that all compete in Segunda RFEF. So, Barça's potential rivals are as follows:
Barbastro
Side from Aragon that knocked out Espanyol in the previous round. It's the same team that Barça met at this same stage last year, winning 3-2. Barça played a near full-strength side, but it was anything but an easy ride.
UD Logroñés
Also beat a Catalan team in the previous round, in this case Girona on penalties. Barça frequently visited their Las Gaunas stadium in La Rioja back in the 1980s and 90s when CD Logroñés were a regular feature of La Liga. That club went defunct in 2009, and the city now has two clubs that formed in their wake, SD Logroñés and UD Logroñés, and it is the latter that Barça could be playing.
Pontevedra
Also beat a top flight team in the previous round, this time Villarreal. The Galicians spent a large part of the 1960s in the first division, so this wouldn't be a totally new fixture for Barça, but would be the first meeting for over half a century.
Deportiva Minera
Also beat a Liga side to get here, Alavés, and this would be the first time that Barça have ever played against the side from the town of El Llano del Beal in Murcia. However, they probably won't be going to the town itself. Minera's game against Alavés was switched to the larger stadium in nearby Cartagena, and against Barça the same is sure to happen.
The games are played over a single leg, on either January 4 or 5. Immediately afterwards, Hansi Flick and his squad will be flying off to Saudi Arabia to contest the Spanish Super Cup.
Should Barça advance, they'll be playing their round of 16 match a few days after they get back from the Middle East on January 15 or thereabouts. Those games are also single-leg affairs, and there will be no seeding, with the first team out of the hat getting home advantage.