Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona lock horns in a mouthwatering 2025-26 Copa del Rey semi-final first leg at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium on Thursday night. A glamorous draw has set up one of Spain\u2019s most intriguing cup ties of the season, with both sides desperate to stake an early claim for a place in the final later this spring. Barcelona arrive in red-hot form in all competitions, whereas Atletico\u2019s inconsistency has made their path a bit more unpredictable.<\/p>\n
Barcelona\u2019s recent run has been eye-catching, winning the majority of their outings across La Liga and cup competitions and carrying momentum into this semi-final stage. However, Hansi Flick\u2019s squad faces notable setbacks, with key creators like Gavi, Pedri, Raphinha and Marcus Rashford sidelined through injury, forcing tactical adjustments in midfield and attack. Frenkie de Jong\u2019s presence offers balance in the centre, and young talents like Lamine Yamal could be crucial in unlocking Atletico\u2019s resilient defence.<\/p>\n
Barcelona (4-2-3-1):<\/strong> Joan; Kounde, Cubars\u00ed, Eric, Balde; De Jong, Bernal; Yamal, Olmo, Ferm\u00edn; Ferran.<\/p>\n Atl\u00e9tico (4-4-2):<\/strong> Musso; Llorente, Pubill, Hancko, Ruggeri; Simeone, Mendoza, Koke, Lookman; Alvarez, Griezmann.<\/p>\n This promises to be an open and competitive affair. Barcelona\u2019s recent form and depth make them marginal favourites, but Atletico\u2019s home intensity could tilt key moments.<\/p>\n Prediction<\/strong>: Atletico Madrid 1\u20132 Barcelona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona lock horns in a mouthwatering 2025-26 Copa del Rey semi-final first leg at the Riyadh\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":44041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4488,681,661,2236,1879,3796,564,4781,3738,2296,3875],"class_list":["post-44040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-atletico-de-madrid","tag-barca","tag-barcelona","tag-copa-del-rey","tag-diego-simeone","tag-football","tag-hansi-flick","tag-lamine-hai","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-pedri","tag-yamal"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44042,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44040\/revisions\/44042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}