Racing de Santander vs FC Barcelona
Competition/Round: 2025-26 Copa del Rey, Round of 16
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Gavi, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong (out)
Racing Outs & Doubts: Asier Villalibre (doubt)
Date/Time: Thursday, January 15, 2026, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Friday)
Venue: Estadio El Sardinero, Santander, Spain
Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez
VAR: David Gálvez Rascón
How to watch on TV: Not Available (USA), Premier Sports 1 (UK), Startimes World Football
(Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), Premier Sports Player (UK), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a dramatic win in El Clasico against Real Madrid to defend their Spanish Super Cup crown and win their first trophy of the season, Barcelona move on to their next challenge in a busy January as the Blaugrana travel to the Cantabria region for a big game against Second Division leaders Racing Santander in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 tie at the Estadio El Sardinero on Thursday Night Fútbol.
Barça come into this one looking to extend their record winning streak under Hansi Flick to 11 games and guarantee safe passage to the quarter-finals of the Cup, but it won’t be easy against a young, energetic and entertaining Racing team that just knocked out Villarreal in the previous round and have what it takes to cause a major upset against the mighty Blaugrana.
Racing are top of the table in the Second Division, and the difference in quality between the top 2-3 teams in second tier and the bottom 4-5 teams in La Liga is pretty small. This is pretty much an away game against a La Liga team for Barça, with the added pressure of facing a really good home crowd who are very passionate about a historic Spanish club.
Barça and Racing are old rivals who faced each other a lot when Racing used to be a fixture of the Spanish top-flight in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Unfortunately there was a gigantic financial crisis that forced Racing to spend a lot of time in the third tier, but their strong rebuild over the last few years has them on the cusp of returning to where they belong.
Facing a team like Barça again in a big Cup tie at home is something Racing have been looking forward to for a long time, so Thursday will be a very special night for the club, its fans and the city. Racing also have a pretty good team, and their games have been a guarantee of entertainment this season.
Racing are the top scorers in La Liga 2 but also have the third-worst defense, and they actually play a very similar style to Flick’s Barça: plenty of possession, dynamic attack, and lots and lots of chances both created and conceded. They have nothing to lose and can play free in this one, confident that they have the firepower to cause a vulnerable Barça defense lots of problems.
Flick will be forced to rotate his side because of two monster away games coming up in the next week against Real Sociedad in the league and Slavia Prague in the Champions League, but the coach has a pretty strong squad available and can pick a team that is good enough to win despite the absence of the suspended Frenkie de Jong and the need to rest the likes of Pedri and Raphinha for at least 45-60 minutes.
This one will be really entertaining, with the promise of loads of chances for both sides and lots of goals. Barça cannot take a single second of this tie for granted, and must be prepared for a really tough challenge against a team they will probably face twice in La Liga next season.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan; Eric, Araujo, Cubarsí, Martín; Casadó, Bernal; Roony, Olmo, Rashford; Ferran
Racing (4-4-2): Andreev; Sangalli, Manu, González, García; Yeray, Sainz-Maza, Aldasoro, Camara; Arana, Martínez
PREDICTION
This will be a lot of fun and Racing cannot be taken lightly, but I expect Barça to establish their superior quality and find the net enough times to win and move on to the quarter-finals: 4-2 to the visitors.
