Just like in every other competition, Barcelona are participating in this year's Copa del Rey with the sole objective of reaching the final and lifting the trophy. Last season, the blaugrana were ingloriously eliminated by Sevilla: in the first leg at Camp Nou, Guardiola didn't field his best squad and Sevilla shocked Barcelona 2-1. In the second leg at Sevilla, Barcelona completely dominated the match, created a lot of chances but could only win 1-0. Palop's inspired Barcelona and Ibrahimovic's wastefulness cost Barcelona tie. After the sextuple, it was the first time Guardiola was ever eliminated from a competition.
This season, Barcelona are definitely looking to recapture the Copa del Rey trophy and cement their status as the most successful club in Copa del Rey history (25 trophies).
The start couldn't have been better. In the first leg of the tie against Ceuta, Barcelona fielded a reserve squad and got a calm 2-0 win on the road. Tomorrow at Camp Nou, a reserve squad with many B team members will certainly be fielded again and another victory is expected.
This is the most appropriate occasion for such talented youngsters as Thiago Alcantara and Jonathan dos Santos, among other, to show the boss that they have what it takes to be important members of the first team. It's also a chance for Bojan to try and get his confidence levels back by scoring goals and for Javier Mascherano to continue his steady integration process. He is definitely more adapted to the Barcelona style of play now, but he can still improve a lot.
In sum, tomorrow's match has two definite objectives: winning and advancing to the next round and giving some players the opportunity to show their quality. Let's hope they all raise to the occasion. I'm sure Pep Guardiola would welcome some more headaches in the team selection in the future.