Albacete vs Barcelona Prediction & Betting Tips (3 February)

Faller of Real Madrid in the 1/8 final, Albacete sees a new juggernaut of Spanish football landed on its lawn, FC Barcelona, ​​title holder of this Copa del Rey and La Liga without forgetting its status as double title holder of the Spanish Super Cup. Since their success against Madrid, the local players have quite simply experienced a second wind in the league by offering themselves three victories in a row against Cadiz 1-0, Valladolid 0-1 and last weekend against Zaragoza 2-0. Important victories which allowed Albacete to climb “only” to 12th place in the ranking.  Title holders of this Copa del Rey, Barcelona are of course aiming for back-to-back like the championship and the Spanish Super Cup. This poster even comes at the right time for the Culers who will want to terrorize the local team in order to demonstrate that only Real Madrid could lose against this opposition.

A good way to remind you who has dominated the country for a year and a half. Last weekend, the Catalans traveled to Elche in La Liga and clearly did the job by winning by 2 goals 1-3. A fourth consecutive victory in all competitions after Copenhagen 4-1 and Slavia Prague 2-4 in the Champions League and Real Oviedo in La Liga 3-0. 

Heroic by scoring a double against Real Madrid, Jefte Betancor (5 goals in the league) showed his confidence last weekend by scoring against Zaragoza. On the other hand, at the heart of this same meeting against Zaragoza, E.Cedeno (substitute), Jon Garcia Herrero (rotation), L.Lopez (rookie, lack of condition), the excellent H.Marin (only 4 appearances this season after a 9-goal campaign last season) and Pepe (important) did not play due to injury. They might all be out today too. Recently returned from injury, Antonio Puertas (7 goals, 2 assists in the league) will be operational like the precious Agus Medina (7 goals, 1 assist). On the Barcelona side, midfielders Pedri and Gavi are still out (injured) as are Danish central defender Andreas Christensen and recently, Brazilian winger Raphinha, suffering from adductor discomfort.

A priori, there will be no big rotation for Hansi Flick who should use major elements of his group starting with Dani Olmo, Marcus Rashford or even a certain R.Lewandowski (9 goals in La Liga), replacing at Elche. Lamine Yamal (9 goals, 8 assists in La Liga) will be at the disposal of the German tactician. As a reminder, Joao Cancelo arrived from Al-Hilal this winter and could start to give Jules Koundé a little breathing room. Goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen left for Girona to find playing time. Roony Bardghji, very interesting when he plays, could start. 

• Summary: Albacete Balompié is going head to head with Barcelona starting on 3 Feb 2026 at 20:00 UTC . The match is a part of the Copa del Rey .