Holders Barcelona will be looking to seal their place in the Copa del

Rey quarter-finals on Wednesday in the final instalment of three heated

Catalan derbies against Espanyol over 10 days.

The European champions hold a commanding 4-1 lead from the first-leg

which Espanyol ended with nine men after red cards for Hernan Perez and

Papakouli Diop, whilst goalkeeper Pau Lopez escaped punishment for

stamping on newly crowned Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi.

However, Barca will be without the suspended Luis Suarez as he was

given a two-match ban for confronting Espanyol players in the tunnel

after the game and calling them a “waste of space”.

Espanyol have also been reported to Spain’s anti-violence commission

by the Spanish league for alleged racist abuse aimed at Brazilian star

Neymar during the sides’ 0-0 draw in La Liga on January 2.

Barca boss Luis Enrique compared Espanyol’s roughhouse tactics to

playing American football after the first-leg, but will meet with his

counterpart Constantin Galca on Tuesday to try and ease tensions between

the two clubs.

Despite their comfortable lead and a punishing schedule of up to 17

games in January and February, Enrique is expected to start with both

Messi and Neymar in attack in Suarez’s absence.

Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta are

also expected to return after being rested for Saturday’s 4-0 rout of

Granada.

La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid have far more work to do to reach the

last eight after only managing a 1-1 draw with a much-changed side away

to Rayo Vallecano last week.

Atletico boss Diego Simeone has made a telling contribution with one

of his substitutes scoring in each of the last four games and insisted

he won’t hold back in rotating his squad once more for the return-leg at

the Vicente Calderon on Thursday.

“We are doing things well and that gives us energy to prepare for the game in the Copa del Rey,” said the Argentine.

“We don’t believe we are better or worse than any opponents, but we

have a group of 23 players that are prepared to compete at any moment

and those that come off the bench are giving us the chance to decide the

game.”

Gary Neville’s Valencia can put their La Liga woes to one side by

completing their passage into the quarters as they hold a 4-0 lead over

Granada.

Juan Merino takes temporary charge of Real Betis, after Pepe Mel was

sacked for the second time by Los Verdiblancos on Sunday, away at local

rivals Sevilla hoping to overcome a 2-0 deficit.

The tie of the round, though, is likely to come at El Madrigal where

high-flying Villarreal look to turn around a 3-2 first-leg defeat to

last season’s finalists Athletic Bilbao.