FC Barcelona Will Make 'Massive Rotations' For Barbastro Copa Del ...

FC Barcelona will make 'massive rotations' for their Copa del Rey match versus Babastro according to ... [+] AS.

FC Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez will make 'massive rotations' to his first XI for Sunday's Copa del Rey match against Barbastro, according to AS.

The Catalans travel to the Huesca province looking to improve on their last four showing last term where they were knocked out by eventual winners and bitter rivals Real Madrid.

Considering the opposition, and that there is a Spanish Super Cup semi-final to play against Osasuna in a few days, Xavi Hernandez will heavily rotate his side and make a number of changes compared to the outfit that struggled to beat Las Palmas 2-1 in La Liga on Thursday.

Injuries to the likes of Pedri, Gavi, Inigo Martinez, Joao Cancelo and Marcos Alonso also force Xavi's hand and will result in a series of young guns being handed a chance to impress at a high level.

Of them, Inaki Pena will keep his place in the team at the expense of goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who is recovering from back surgery.

With Cancelo crocked in Gran Canaria, Hector Fort should come into the fold as Pau Cubrasi will team up with either Andreas Christensen or Jules Kounde in central defense.

As Alonso is unavailable, though, Alejandro Balde will continue to man the left back spot.

In midfield, Oriol Romeu should return to pivot as Ilkay Gundogan and Frenkie de Jong are given a rest.

In front of the ex-Girona man should be Fermin Lopez and Marc Casado. On the attacking line, AS thought that Joao Felix would take Lamine Yamal and new signing Vitor Roque under his wing.

As pointed out by SPORT, however, Lamine is suspended after a red card picked up as a juvenil last season.

The bigger story here is that after being granted his debut with a short cameo against Las Palmas, the project which entails Vitor Roque succeeding Robert Lewandowski starts to gain traction.

Essentially, though, this is the kind of fixture that the Pole needs to sit out so that his 35-year-old legs aren't too worn out for the higher-stakes meetings ahead in La Liga and the Champions League.

At some stage of the proceedings, Roque himself could be replaced by Marc Guiu who we haven't seen much of since his dream debut and winning goal at Athletic Club's expense or a Champions League strike in the loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in early November.