Osasuna will kick off their Copa del Rey campaign on Wednesday with a trip to sixth-tier Chiclana for a first-round tie.
The visitors dropped out in the round of 16 last time around, while the hosts again reached this stage by winning a preliminary-round tie after dropping out at the hands of Villarreal last year.
Match preview
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Chiclana head into Copa del Rey action on Wednesday aiming to progress to the second round for the first time in their history, after suffering a heavy defeat at this stage last time around.
After progressing through the preliminary round in the 2023-24 competition, the Andalusian side met Villarreal in the first round at the Estadio Municipal del Chiclana and dropped out following a 5-0 beating, as Manuel Trigueros netted a hat-trick for their top-flight visitors alongside goals from Jorge Pascual and Alex Baena.
Their latest bid then began in early October at home to Melilla in a preliminary-round tie, and Alfonso Cortijo's side again booked a first-round spot with a resounding 4-0 victory, as Josemi Caballero and Dani Guerrero had then 2-0 up in the first half and Juanito and Adrian Pascual added goals after the interval.
Now returning to cup action in fine form, having extended an unbeaten streak following that triumph to move second in Spain's sixth tier, most recently beating Ayamonte 2-1 away from home on Sunday, Chiclana will bid to pull off a historic upset on Wednesday to progress in the Copa del Rey.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip on Wednesday aiming to kick off their Copa del Rey campaign in emphatic fashion, having progressed to the round of 16 in four of the last five seasons.
After reaching the final for the second time in their history in the 2022-23 edition, eventually falling just short of the trophy in a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid, Los Rojillos entered last year's competition in the round of 32 and required extra time to get past Castellon as Jose Arnaiz netted the only goal of the tie in the 108th minute.
They would fail to advance to the final eight in that bid, though, then meeting Real Sociedad and suffering a 2-0 loss on home turf to drop out of the competition.
Vicente Moreno's side will now make their return to the domestic cup on the back of a strong start to their sixth straight La Liga campaign, currently sitting on 18 points from their first 11 outings having managed five wins from those matches including a 4-2 victory over Barcelona and a 2-0 triumph away at Real Sociedad at the weekend.
Luas Torro and Ante Budimir fired Los Rojillos back to winning ways in that game, and they will now bid to make it back-to-back triumphs with a dominant display to progress to the second round of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
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Team News
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Chiclana could field an unchanged starting XI from the weekend's 2-1 victory over Ayamonte, although Adrian Pascual will fight to come back in up front after scoring in their preliminary-round victory over Mellila.
He could rejoin Dani Guerrero up top, while Sergio Alba will keep his place on the wing having found the net on Sunday.
Following a hard-fought away La Liga victory on Sunday, Vicente Moreno should rotate his Osasuna squad for Wednesday's cup tie, with the likes of Jon Moncayola, Bryan Zaragoza and Ante Budimir likely to be rested.
Iker Munoz and Pablo Ibanez will both hope to earn the manager's favour in midfield and could join Aimar Oroz in the midfield.
With star man Budimir set to sit out, having already notched up five goals this season, Raul Garcia will hope to lead the line, while Moi Gomez and Iker Benito could also come into a new-look front line.
Chiclana possible starting lineup:
F Sanchez; R Sanchez, Leon, Pecci, Benitez; Alba, Ramos, Caballero, Tocino; Guerrero, Pascual
Osasuna possible starting lineup:
Herrera; Vidal, Herrando, Garcia, Bretones; Oroz, Ibanez, Munoz; Gomez, Garcia, Benito
We say: Chiclana 0-3 Osasuna
Likely prioritising their run of La Liga fixtures at this stage of the season with a return to action looming on Saturday, Osasuna should field a heavily-rotated squad on Wednesday, but they should still have more than enough to come out of the test unscathed and advance to the second round.
Sam Varley
