Valencia vs Barcelona

The teams of Valencia and Barcelona will face off in Thursday's quarter-final match for Copa del Rey semi-final qualification.

The upcoming match will occur just shy of two weeks after Barcelona smashed Los Che 7-1 in the La Liga matchup at Estadi Olympic Lluis Companys.

The club faces an imminent danger of relegation from La Liga after holding their top division status since 1985-86.

Los Che maintains 19th place in La Liga standings with four points behind safety after collecting four victories while drawing seven and losing 11 games throughout the current season.

Since his five games as Valencia head coach, Carlos Corberan has achieved two league victories and these have happened during the two home contests leading up to Sunday's win against Celta Vigo through the goals of Luis Rioja and Javi Guerra.

Across the two matches he has managed Valencia in the 2024-25 Copa del Rey season the team secured 2-0 victories against Eldense and Ourense while Ruben Baraja led the team with two prior cup wins at Parla Escuela and Ejea.

Los Che enter their Copa del Rey clash against top-tier competition as they aim to perform a shocker that would maintain their aspirations for an 8th tournament victory while having their first win since the 2018-19 season.

Despite this upcoming challenge Valencia understands their task is immense to defeat Barcelona since their last victory against the opponent occurred in their January 2020 home match.

Barcelona has been in excellent form in 2025, winning seven and drawing two of their past seven competitive matches after losing 2-1 to Atletico Madrid in their final game of 2024.

Their unbeaten run has seen them win the Spanish Super Cup, defeat Barbastro and Real Betis in the Copa del Rey, and take four points from their final two league phase games to finish first in the Champions League standings.

The Blaugrana have also taken seven points from their three league games during their undefeated record, including a 1-1 draw with Getafe and maximum points at home against Valencia and Alaves.

While they easily defeated Valencia 7-1, the Catalan giants had to settle for a 1-0 victory over Alaves on Sunday, with Robert Lewandowski's 30th goal of the season bringing them within four points of leaders Real Madrid.

Barcelona will now pause their La Liga campaign to focus on their third straight Copa del Rey quarterfinal, with the visitors hoping to win the competition for the 32nd time and first since 2020-21.

The Blaugrana have relished recent excursions to Mestalla, winning four of their past five away games against Valencia, including a 2-1 success in August.

Valencia are still missing right-back Thierry Correia, who had an anterior cruciate ligament injury in October and will be out for an extended amount of time.

Dimitri Folquier has been ruled out due to a muscular injury, while Enzo Barrenechea and Diego Lopez will aim to recover from their pain after the win over Celta.
Dani Olmo hopes to show his fitness in time to play in Thursday's encounter after missing the previous four due to injury.

Gavi is still being watched after sustaining a head injury in Sunday's victory over Alaves, raising concerns over his availability for the quarter-final match.