FC Barcelona to face Alavés in the Spanish Cup

Barcelona (FCB).- Barça, known as the King of Cups with 26 titles to their name and being the defending champions, have found out who they will be playing in their opening fixture of this year’s edition. The draw was held at midday on Thursday at the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation, and the team that was paired with the Catalans is Alavés, of Division 2B.  The first leg is on 31^st October  in Vitoria and the return at the Camp Nou will be on 28^th November.

The match-ups in the round of 32 are as follows:

Alcoyano v Real Madrid
Llagostera v Valencia
Cacereño v Malaga
Alavés v FC Barcelona
Eibar v Athletic Bilbao
Jaen v Atlético Madrid
Melilla v Levante
Winner of Las Palmas and Racing v Rayo Vallecano
Sporting v Osasuna
Almeria v Celta
Cordoba v Real Sociedad
Ponferradina v Getafe
Valladolid v Betis
Deportivo v Mallorca
Zaragoza v Granada
Sevilla v Espanyol

The draw was made for the complete tournament, so we already know who FC Barcelona would face if they beat the Basque outfit in their opening fixture. On 12^th and 19^th December they would play the winners of the tie involving Cordoba and Real Sociedad. In the quarters, FC Barcelona would play any of Eibar, Athletic Bilbao, Cacereño or Malaga on 9^th and 16^th January.

Possible clásico in semi finals

If Barça and Real Madrid were to cross paths, it wouldn’t be until the semi finals on 23^rd and 30^th January. The first leg would be at the Real Madrid’s Bernabéu stadium, and the return at Barcelona’s Camp Nou. That means that there is no way that we could see a repeat of the final between the two in the 2010-11 season, and neither could there be a re-edition of last year’s final between FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.