Barcelona vs Guadalajara Copa del Rey match told through Flick’s surprises and a late escape

Barcelona vs Guadalajara Copa del Rey match was supposed to be the comfortable opener, the kind of winter trip where the giants rotate, score early, and move on before anyone breaks a sweat. Instead, at the Pedro Escartín, Barcelona had to earn their place in the last 16 the hard way, edging past a brave third-tier Guadalajara 0-2 after a night that asked real questions about rhythm, selection, and what Hansi Flick truly wants from his squad when the lights are less glamorous.

It finished with Andreas Christensen rising from a set piece to break a stubborn contest and Marcus Rashford sealing it on the break. But the story of the night was larger than the scoreline. It was about choices, nerves, minutes given, and a crowd that never accepted the script.

Flick rotated, but the biggest twist came in goal

Barcelona arrived with expectations of heavy rotation, and that part was true. With a hectic run of fixtures behind them, Flick reshuffled his XI for the Copa del Rey opener, giving fringe players a platform and preserving legs for what comes next.

The surprise was not that Joan García was rested. It was who replaced him. With Wojciech Szczęsny widely viewed as Barça’s number two, the assumption had been simple. Flick would hand him the gloves for a trip to minnows Guadalajara. Yet the lineup revealed club captain Marc-André ter Stegen instead, a decision that turned heads across the fanbase.

After the match, Flick clarified the thinking with a message that was both respectful and unmistakably limited in scope. He emphasized that ter Stegen is “the captain and very important to the team,” and that giving him minutes was “another step for him,” but then came the key line, delivered without drama. “It’s just for today.”

Ter Stegen’s appearance was also his first since May after recovering from back surgery, and he returned with a clean sheet. In a match where Barcelona spent long stretches searching for a breakthrough, that calm presence mattered more than it might in a routine 3-0.

A cold night, a delayed start, and a defense that refused to blink

The evening began with an unusual delay, half an hour to allow supporters to filter into temporary stands. When the game finally started, it settled into a temperate rhythm in the cold of Guadalajara, with Barcelona probing and the hosts defending as if each block and clearance carried a personal signature.

Guadalajara’s “watertight defensive unit” kept Barcelona at arm’s length for much of the first half. Fermín López came closest with a shot from just outside the box that whistled wide. Barcelona also found opportunities in more unexpected ways, with Eric García twice arriving late into the area for free headers, one held by the goalkeeper and another sent over.

It was not a performance dripping with fluency. It was a performance that looked like a team trying to manufacture certainty in an unfamiliar context, against an opponent for whom this was a season-defining stage.

Youngsters in the frame and a reminder of what the Copa can do

Before the match, attention had already turned to the youth contingent. Reporting from Barca insider Sergi Capdevila indicated that Pedro “Dro” Fernández and Jofre Torrents were “aiming for starting spots,” with midfielder Tommy Marqués also under consideration. Even when a Cup tie becomes tense, there is a reason these nights are protected in Spanish football. They are one of the few places where ambition, opportunity, and necessity collide.

In the end, what Barcelona will take forward, as one report put it, is limited in terms of broader conclusions, but meaningful in individual development. The trip offered minutes for youngsters including Marc Bernal and Torrents, and that matters in a season where the calendar gives no gifts.

Jofre Torrents reflected on the moment in simple terms, calling it a dream, admitting to nerves at the beginning, and noting that these matches are tough because opponents “go all out.”

Casadó at right-back, then into midfield, and the logic behind it

Another eyebrow-raiser came in the shape of Marc Casadó starting at right-back. This was notable because Flick had said just a day earlier that he viewed Casadó primarily as a midfielder, strong as a 6 or an 8, and that he was thinking of him more in those positions.

Yet necessity can be the most honest coach. In Guadalajara, Casadó began at full-back and then moved into midfield for the final 15 minutes. Flick’s explanation was straightforward. He wanted to rest Jules Koundé, and he wanted Casadó to get playing time. The match became a small case study in squad management, where words from Monday meet the practicalities of Tuesday night.

Barcelona needed rescue minutes and Flick did not hesitate

After the break, Rashford had the best chance of the game for Barcelona, but he could not beat Daniel Vicente in goal. As the minutes slipped away and Guadalajara’s belief grew, Flick began to ring the changes.

Marc Bernal was first off. Then came what was described as a “luxury selection” to rescue the night. Pau Cubarsí, Koundé, Alejandro Balde, and Pedri were sent on as the second half progressed, a clear signal that Barcelona were not interested in romanticizing a struggle. They were interested in surviving it.

Still, tangible pressure remained strangely scarce. Lamine Yamal’s direct approach was repeatedly thwarted, and Barcelona were left circling rather than cutting. It felt like one of those Cup nights where the favorite starts to hear the crowd’s breathing and the underdog starts to believe in the next tackle.

The set-piece breakthrough that finally cracked the wall

The breakthrough arrived not from a sweeping move but from the kind of moment that the Copa so often delivers, a set piece, a second ball, and a defender deciding the night belongs to him.

A cleared corner made its way to Frenkie de Jong by way of Pedri. De Jong curled a cross to the back post where Christensen met it, and his header deflected off a defender and looped high into the net from close range with under 15 minutes to go. In a match that had offered Barcelona few clean lines, this was a goal written in persistence rather than beauty.

And it mattered doubly because it changed Guadalajara’s posture. Once behind, the hosts pushed forward with ambition and energy, cheered on by a relentless support that sounded like it had been waiting years for this moment.

Ter Stegen had to work for his clean sheet

Guadalajara’s response forced Barcelona’s captain into action. Twice ter Stegen was called upon, including an impressive save to parry a rasping effort from Salifo Caropitchie. The clean sheet was not an ornament. It was earned.

There was a certain poetry to it. Flick’s surprising selection in goal became relevant not as a talking point for social media, but as a functional decision under pressure, when the underdog finally threw caution away.

Rashford’s second chance, and a finish that settled the tie

With Guadalajara committing bodies forward, space opened up. In these games, that is the cruel trade. The underdog must chase an equalizer, and the favorite waits for the counterpunch.

Lamine Yamal angled a pass behind the right-back, Rashford rounded Vicente, and finished high into the net. The forward, who earlier had been denied in a one-on-one, found the composure when it mattered most. The match, at last, tilted definitively toward Barcelona at 0-2.

What Flick liked, and what Barcelona will still want to clean up

Flick did not dress the performance up as something it was not, but he also did not indulge in negativity. He focused on the essentials. “Playing in the Copa is not easy,” he said, stressing that the most important thing was attitude and mentality, and that his players had shown it. He underlined that these matches are never easy, and that the attitude on the pitch is the key to victory.

That framing tells you how coaches survive Cup rounds. They grade on advancement, professionalism, and response to discomfort, not on aesthetic satisfaction. For Barcelona, the night can be read through three practical takeaways

• Guadalajara’s plan was effective and Barcelona struggled to create clear chances for long spells,
• the substitutions showed Flick will use his top-end quality when a tie demands it,
• Christensen’s impact and Rashford’s late finish ensured the result even when the performance felt “wanting.”

Guadalajara’s valiant night and why the Copa still matters

It is easy to reduce these ties to a footnote once the favorite progresses. But Guadalajara earned more than that. They were noisy, organized, and ambitious when the moment arrived. The report described their support as “noisy and relentless,” and the performance as “valiant,” noting that plenty of La Liga sides have fallen “faster and easier than they did.”

This is the Copa del Rey’s enduring charm. It strips away comfort and asks bigger clubs to win without the usual stagecraft. It also gives smaller clubs a night where the margin between history and heartbreak can be a single deflection at the back post.

What comes next for Barcelona after Guadalajara

Barcelona will learn their next opponents on January 7 when the draw for the next round is made. Before that, they close 2025 with a trip to Villarreal at La Cerámica, a match described as coming against an in-form opponent, with Barcelona desperate to end the year with as large a gap as possible to Real Madrid.

But the Guadalajara trip will linger for different reasons. It was a reminder that rotations come with risk, that youth minutes are earned in uncomfortable contexts, and that even a captain’s return can be both symbolic and strictly temporary.

Above all, the Barcelona vs Guadalajara Copa del Rey match became what these nights often become. A test of patience, a burst of resolve late on, and a scoreboard that reads calmly even when the story did not.