La Liga giants Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid have bagged comfortable wins in their respective Copa del Rey round of 16 games this week. The start to 2017 has been impressive for them. It now needs to be seen whether the defending Spanish league champions Barcelona follow suit.
The Catalan giants take on Athletic Club Bilbao in their first leg Copa del Rey round of 16 encounter on Thursday. Copa del Rey midweek schedule.
And yes, to address the most important question, MSN (Messi Suarez Neymar) are available for the match! "We have been able to enjoy some well-earned holidays and I am pleasantly surprised with the players since their return. They have come back in better shape than when they left," said Barca coach Luis Enrique in the pre-match presser.
"I am very happy with the response in training sessions and their performance levels. All my players are ready to compete."
Barcelona may be the favourites in the match, but Enrique is no ruling out the intense challenge from Athletic Bilbao. "We face a club that we know well," he continued. "The tie will be a difficult one and first we need to go to their ground knowing how dangerous Athletic are. They will put pressure on us and it will be an interesting tie to watch."
Athletic Club thrashed Barcelona 5-1 over two legs in the Spanish Super Cup 2015 last August. The two sides had also met in May last year in the Copa del Rey 2014-15 final, where Barca defeated Athletic Club 3-1.
Copa del Rey: Athletic Club vs Barcelona 2017 schedule
Date: January 5
Time: 1:45 am IST (Thursday) [8:15 pm GMT, 3:15 pm EST]
Where to watch live
India: No telecast
UK: No telecast
USA: TV - beIN Sports, fubo TV. Live streaming - beIN Sports Connect
Spain: Gol TV.
Live score: Twitter
