It’s all to play for in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final, as Atletico Madrid host the second leg against Barcelona.

Recently, the matches between these two teams have been thrilling, with scores leveling at 4-4 following Atletico’s late comeback in Montjuic. Diego Simeone’s team started at 2-0, fell to 4-2, but Marcos Llorente and Alexander Sorloth scored in the last ten minutes to even the score.

Following that, Barcelona made significant strides towards the La Liga title by overturning a two-goal deficit to win an astounding 4-2 at the Metropolitano. This comeback not only dampened Atleti’s momentum but also, combined with their weekend draw against Espanyol, nearly eliminated their chances of winning the league.

After a harsh Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid, Wednesday becomes crucial for Atleti’s season. Despite the high expectations for Simeone’s squad this season, there’s a real chance they could end the year without any silverware.

Barca, on the contrary, are going strong on all fronts and have already secured silverware under Hansi Flick. Back-to-back La Liga wins after the international break means they boast a three-point lead at the summit, and they’ll soon take on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Here’s 90min’s guide to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg.

Diego Simeone opted to use his South American contingent off the bench against Espanyol, with Julian Alvarez, Jose Maria Gimenez, and Rodrigo De Paul all poised to return to Atleti’s starting lineup on Wednesday night.

Samuel Lino will team up with Reinildo down the left to tame Lamine Yamal, while Clement Lenglet’s resurgence should see him keep his place at centre-back over Robin Le Normand if Gimenez comes back in.

Koke is likely to miss out for the hosts again, and Angel Correa is also unavailable due to a lengthy suspension. Juan Musso could be preferred to Jan Oblak between the posts.

Atletico predicted lineup vs Barcelona (4-4-2): Musso; Llorente, Gimenez, Lenglet, Reinildo; Simeone, Barrios, De Paul, Lino; Alvarez, Griezmann.

Flick has confirmed that Raphinha and Pau Cubarsi are both ready to return to Barcelona’s starting lineup on Wednesday. The former was an unused substitute on Sunday, while Cubarsi picked up a minor injury on international duty.

Cubarsi will likely partner Inigo Martinez at centre-back, with Raphinha coming in down the left and replacing Gavi. Alejandro Balde will also start over Gerard Martin.

Ferran Torres may be considered for a start given his excellent scoring form, but Robert Lewandowski has also been on fire and won’t want to drop out of the team for this significant occasion.

There were positive injury updates regarding Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Andreas Christensen over the break, but the pair remain out along with Marc Bernal and Marc Casado.

Barcelona predicted lineup vs Atletico (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Lewandowski.

We’ve gotten used to Atletico Madrid playing out cagey contests with Spain’s best, but the meetings between these two teams this season have been nothing of the sort. Will there be more chaos on Wednesday?

This is a bigger game for the hosts given their Champions League exit and slumping La Liga form, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Simeone revert to type. There may not be anything extravagant about Atleti on Wednesday, but it’s going to take a huge effort to slow this Barca team down. They proved before the break that they merely need a yard of space to strike.

The hosts will aim to turn this into a scrappy affair bereft of rhythm, and they may well have some success despite the return of a couple of key faces to the Barcelona XI. This could go the distance, and it’s a toss-up in the shootout.