Xavi had just picked up his first trophy as Barcelona manager, when the Blaugrana met Ceuta in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey on Thursday night. In the last Supercopa de Espana, the visitors to the Alfonso Murube Stadium beat Real Madrid 3-1. The hosts drew 2-2 with Castilla Blancos.
Ceuta made it through to the last 16 of the Copa del Rey for the first time in their history, beating Utrera and Ibiza in the early rounds. Rodri Rios scored the only goal in the match with Elche from the penalty spot.
Although Ceuta have remained in the RFEF Primera Division, their winless record in third-tier Group 1 now stands at four games. They sit at the bottom of the table in 20th place with only eight points. of 19 matches.
Cueta came from two goals down to salvage a point against Real Madrid Castilla on Sunday. They have suffered just one loss from their last five matches at the Alfonso Murube Stadium and failed to score in just one of their last 17 matches in known territory.
Xavi could soon be made to swallow his words if Ceuta can shock the football world and beat the 31-time champions. While there are many obstacles for Ceuta to turn this into a reality, they will surely try hard to do so.
When Ceuta and Barcelona meet later, it will be an interesting match to watch. The second team will fight for victory and confirm their status in the next round.
Xavi has quite a lot of trophy-winning experience with Barca, and they have now beaten Real Madrid to the top of La Liga. The Catalans were on the brink of possibly repeating that success in the Copa del Rey, where they managed to get past Intercity in the last 32. Now, they will face Ceuta in the round of 16.
History shows that Barcelona have won three of their three meetings with Ceuta in the Copa del Rey, with the first leg taking place at the Alfonso Murube Stadium.
Xavi hopes his team will learn from the "lucky" cup decision they had, as they don't want to be knocked out in the last 16 for a second successive year, as happened last year.
