Espanyol vs Barcelona: TV channel, stream, kick-off time, odds & Copa del Rey preview

Barcelona take on local rivals Espanyol in the quarter-final of the Copa del Rey as they look to continue their defence of the trophy.

Ernesto Valverde's men come into the game following an impressive comeback victory over Real Sociedad in La Liga and they will be eager to extend their unbeaten run to 30 games on Wednesday.

As well as putting a 29-game unbeaten streak together, the Blaugrana boast the mental edge over Quique Sanchez Flores' side, having already thrashed them 5-0 at Camp Nou back in September.

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TV CHANNEL & LIVE STREAM

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The game is not being shown live on television in the United Kingdom, but Goal will be providing updates here.

In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial).

New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.

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SQUADS & TEAM NEWS

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There are concerns over the availability of Sergio Garcia and Pablo Piatti, while goalkeeper Adrian Lopez is definitely out. Other than that, Sanchez Flores has no fresh issues to contend with.

Potential Espanyol starting XI: Pau; Duarte, J. Lopez, Hermoso, Martin; V. Sanchez, Jurado, Granero, Darder, Moreno; Baptistao.

One player who is certainly out is Ousmane Dembele, who suffered a flare up in his hamstring. Samuel Umtiti is also out due to a thigh issue, but Nelson Semedo, who was a late withdrawal from the game against Real Sociedad with tonsillitis, is available again. Javier Mascherano and Andres Iniesta have been ruled out of the game with respective thigh and calf injuries.

Philippe Coutinho is recovering from an injury, but is getting closer to being involved, while new signing Yerry Mina has also been training with the team, but has yet to receive clearance to play. 

Potential Barcelona starting XI: Cillessen; Pique, Vidal, Vermaelen, Digne; Busquets, Paulinho, Rakitic, Gomes; Messi, Suarez.

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BETTING & MATCH ODDS

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Despite being away from home, Barcelona are heavy favourites to beat their rivals at 1/3 according to dabblebet, with Espanyol rated 15/2 bets. A draw is available at 4/1.

Click here to see all of dabblebet's offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.

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GAME PREVIEW

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Barca's aura of invincibility was threatened briefly on Sunday when Real Sociedad had the audacity to take a two-goal lead on the Catalan outfit, but those notions were quickly extinguished thanks to a masterclass from Lionel Messi and his partner-in-crime Luis Suarez. Valverde's men did not panic after conceding twice away from home and were particularly impressive in the second half as they left San Sebastian with maximum points.

Such is the nature of Barcelona this season that they will soon be incorporating reinforcements such as Coutinho and Mina into the fold, which should take some pressure off those regular starters who may be feeling the busy fixture schedule in their legs. The game against Espanyol comes just three days after their intense match against Real Sociedad and Valverde may be forced to rest some of his key players, but changes are likely to be minimal as he generally opts for consistency.

Indeed, with the Periquitos enjoying a decent run of form of late - which includes a Liga victory over Atletico Madrid - the Barca boss will be keen to field his strongest possible XI as they look to bring a favourable result back to Camp Nou for the second leg next week.