{"id":348552,"date":"2025-12-16T08:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/348552\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T08:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:55:10","slug":"guadalajara-chief-hails-barcelona-as-dream-opponent-ive-been-a-barca-fan-all-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/348552\/","title":{"rendered":"Guadalajara chief hails Barcelona as dream opponent \u2013 \u2018I\u2019ve been a Bar\u00e7a fan all my life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona begin their Copa del Rey campaign later today with a trip to face CD Guadalajara<\/a>, a fixture that carries a special emotional weight for the hosts.<\/p>\n

While the gap in stature between the two sides is evident, the occasion itself has been embraced with genuine excitement rather than fear.<\/p>\n

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For Guadalajara, the visit of the reigning La Liga and Copa del Rey champions is being treated as a historic moment for the club, the city, and its supporters.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the contest, Guadalajara sporting director Nestor Susaeta shared his thoughts on the draw and what it meant internally when Barcelona\u2019s name was pulled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got Bar\u00e7a, people here went crazy,\u201d he told SPORT<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they were the best opponent for us. Because of the proximity to Madrid, paying a lot of money, it\u2019s true, but anyone can go to the Bernabeu or the Metropolitano.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMadrid is half an hour from Guadalajara. Seeing Bar\u00e7a is more complicated. It was a bombshell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glamour of the match<\/p>\n

Susaeta then went on to explain that Barcelona were not just a glamorous draw, but the opponent many inside the club truly hoped for.<\/p>\n

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Speaking from a personal perspective, he did not attempt to hide his long-standing affection for the Catalan giants.<\/p>\n

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Barcelona will face CD Guadalajara. (Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a Bar\u00e7a fan all my life, I\u2019ve always liked them, but seeing the La Liga and Copa del Rey champions, with the players they have now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That admiration is backed by close observation. As someone who follows Barcelona closely, Susaeta outlined what he expects from Hansi Flick\u2019s side on the pitch.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI watch all their games. If I can\u2019t watch them live, I watch them later. I expect Bar\u00e7a to press, with a high defensive line, to want the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect them to play their best and for us to play ours. From there, it\u2019s football and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assessing the opponent<\/p>\n

Looking at Barcelona\u2019s campaign, Susaeta offered a balanced assessment of their season so far, acknowledging minor setbacks while underlining the strength of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery well. They had some doubts in the Champions League with some bad results, but they are very hungry, they have a great squad, and the work at La Masia is spectacular.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers and the feeling of a team that is a pleasure to watch are spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, attention turned to the players the crowd is hoping to see, with Barcelona\u2019s young star, Lamine Yamal, generating particular excitement ahead of kick-off.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHopefully, they will bring their best players. People want to see Lamine, Pedri, and Raphinha, but they are all beasts. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are all superlative players. For us, facing them is an honour, a dream,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona begin their Copa del Rey campaign later today with a trip to face CD Guadalajara, a fixture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[1206,1205,49,48,151659,151661,151663,151660,10551,35422,151662,22245,35426,35421,561,82],"class_list":["post-348552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-barca","tag-barcelona","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cd-guadalajara","tag-copa-del-rey","tag-genuine-excitement","tag-guadalajara","tag-la-liga","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-nestor-susaeta","tag-opponent","tag-pedri","tag-raphinha","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}