barcelona
Barcelona's players celebrate at the end of the Spanish League 'Clasico' football match Real Madrid CF vs FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on December 23, 2017CURTO DE LA TORRE/AFP/Getty

La Liga giants FC Barcelona look to start the calendar year 2018 on a bright note as they get set to take on Celta Vigo in an away match of the Copa del Rey tournament on Thursday December 4. The Catalan giants are unbeaten from they 17 league games so far and continuing that momentum remains the key.

All the players are returning from the Christmas and New Year break, so you can expect the energy levels from all players to be very high.

Star players Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez are rested, but the biggest news remains the return of Ousmane Dembele. Paco Alcácer and Samuel Umtiti, however, are injured. 

Barcelona are the favourites to defend the Copa del Rey title. They won it successfully in the three previous seasons. The double-header against Celta de Vigo in the round of 16 stage can be seen as an easy fixture, but make no mistake, the home side could yet pull out a shocker.

Possible starting 11

Barcelona: Cillessen; Semedo, Mascherano, Vermaelen, Digne; Roberto, Rakitic, Gomes; Vidal, Dembélé, Denis Suarez.

Celta Vigo: Blanco; Mallo, Cabral, Gómez, Jonny; Radoja, Pablo, Jozabed; Mor, Guidetti, Hjulsager.

CELTA vs BARCA

Date: January 4

Time: 11:30 pm IST, 6 pm GMT

Venue: Galicia

TV listings: Not available (India, UK), beIN Sports, fuboTV (USA)

Live stream: beIN Sports Connect (USA)