Barcelona Real Sociedad Reuters
Neymar (R) and Barcelona hope to earn another victory over Real Sociedad, this time in the Copa del Rey semifinals. Reuters

The 2013-2014 Copa del Rey semifinals certainly carries loads of firepower. While Real Madrid teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale clash with the Atletico Madrid duo of David Villa and Diego Costa in the opening semifinal, Leo Messi’s Barcelona squad will be looking to bounce back from a rare home loss when they take on Real Sociedad and leading scorer Antoine Griezmann to start their semifinal slate. Barca dropped their last decision to Valencia at Camp Nou to fall behind Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Primera Division standings, so a higher level of urgency will exist during the club’s next match as they look to return to top form.

Though their next match will come against a league opponent, the 2013-2014 La Liga table will be unaffected by the outcome of Barca’s upcoming match against Real Sociedad, a club they’ve already defeated 4-1 this season. Still confident in his team’s ability coming off their first home loss of the season, Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino doesn’t expect another slip-up in league play and says his club shouldn’t be judged on a lousy 45 minutes of soccer, especially since they’re only 3 points back of Atletico in the standings.

“Although we’ve dropped to second place, it’s still in our own hands,” the Barca boss said. “I hope we won’t have any more slip ups -- you can’t rule us out of the title just because of 45 poor minutes. The truth is that we are just one game behind the leader and they have to come here to the Camp Nou for the last game of the season. We know that with each week, there are fewer games left to play and if you make a mistake it’s not easy to make it up, but after every defeat the next game is a chance to prove yourself.”

Barcelona will now focus their attention on the opening leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. Despite the recent loss to Valencia, the club still possesses loads of offensive firepower in Lionel Messi (19 total goals, 6 assists), Pedro (16 goals, 5 assists), Alexis Sanchez (15 goals, 5 assists) and Cesc Fabregas (12 goals, 11 assists). Looking to move one step closer to the club’s 27th Copa del Rey title, Messi and company will have their hands full against a Real Sociedad club looking to reach their first final since 1988.

Real hasn’t earned a win at Camp Nou since the 1990-1991 season but if Griezmann and consistent scoring threat Carlos Vela (12 goals, 8 assists) continue to produce, La Real will certainly have a chance to keep it close against Barcelona Wednesday evening in Spain.

While Barcelona sits second in La Liga with 54 points -- three behind Atletico -- Real Sociedad is currently in sixth position, with a total of 36 points.

Barcelona vs. Real Sociedad: DATE, TIME & TV INFO

DATE: Wednesday, Feb. 5

TIME: 4 p.m., ET

TV SCHEDULE: beIN Sports USA / beIN Sports en Español

LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE

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