MADRID, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will play the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal in Montjuic on Tuesday night.
It is the second meeting in the ground between the two sides after Atletico stunned Barca with an injury time winner for a 2-1 win.
Barca has now returned to the top of the table and coach Hansi Flick will make some changes to his starting 11 that won a hard-fought game 2-0 in Las Palmas on Saturday night.
Frenkie de Jong, who is back in form and in favor, will return to the side, while Inigo Martinez or Ronald Araujo both have options of returning in defense after Eric Garcia filled in at the weekend.
There will be no rest for Raphinha, Lamine Yamal or Robert Lewandowski, as the attacking trio continue to be vital for Barca.
One question Flick has to answer is whether Dani Olmo should start on Tuesday night, after his physical problems in recent weeks. The Spain international came on as a second half substitute on Saturday and opened the scoring with a neat piece of footwork and is in line to replace Fermin Lopez.
Both Barca and Atletico have packed fixture calendars, with Tuesday's match followed by another La Liga game at the weekend and the first leg of the Champions League last-16 the following week.
Barca entertains Real Sociedad in La Liga before visiting Benfica in Europe, while Atletico is at home to fourth place Athletic Club Bilbao and then visits Real Madrid in Champions League.
Diego Simeone will clearly have to rest Antoine Griezmann at some point in the coming games, but the issue is when he should do so: Griezmann helped set up two goals in Atletico's 3-0 win in Valencia on Saturday, links well with Julian Alvarez and will probably start on Tuesday.
Atletico rested Javi Galan at the weekend, while Pablo Barrios was suspended and both will likely start along with Jose Gimenez in what looks like a well-balanced tie. ■
