Copa Del Rey 2014: Fixtures, Live Stream and Latest Predictions

The Round of 32 of the 2014-15 Copa del Rey is upon us, as the 20 La Liga clubs have finally entered Spain's most prestigious cup tournament. Part of the schedule has already been played, with Real Madrid playing the return leg of their tie on Tuesday and the likes of Barcelona playing their first legs on Wednesday.

Both Real and Sevilla bagged big away wins during the first leg and are near locks to make it to the Round of 16, likely joined by the top teams from La Liga. But the Spanish giants shouldn't get too complacent—in cup football, anything is possible.

Here's the full schedule for Copa Del Rey action in the coming days, complete with picks and live stream info.

Date	Time (BST)	Home	Away	Pick	Live Stream
Tuesday, Dec. 2	7 p.m.	Alaves	Espanyol	Espanyol	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Tuesday, Dec. 2	7 p.m.	Alcoyano	Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Tuesday, Dec. 2	7 p.m.	Real Madrid	UD Cornella	Real	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)/Sky Go (UK)
Tuesday, Dec. 2	9 p.m.	Las Palmas	Celta Vigo	Celta Vigo	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Tuesday, Dec. 2	9 p.m.	Valladolid	Elche	Elche	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Wednesday, Dec. 3	7 p.m.	CE L'Hospitalet	Atletico Madrid	Atletico	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)/Sky Go (UK)
Wednesday, Dec. 3	7 p.m.	Deportivo La Coruna	Malaga	Malaga	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Wednesday, Dec. 3	7 p.m.	Sevilla	Sabadell	Sevilla	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Wednesday, Dec. 3	9 p.m.	Granada	Cordoba	Cordoba	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)
Wednesday, Dec. 3	9 p.m.	Huesca	Barcelona	Barcelona	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)/Sky Go (UK)
Thursday, Dec. 4	7 p.m.	Cadiz	Villarreal	Villarreal	/
Thursday, Dec. 4	7 p.m.	Real Oviedo	Real Sociedad	Sociedad	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)/Sky Go (UK)
Thursday, Dec. 4	9 p.m.	Rayo Vallecano	Valencia	Valencia	BeIN Sports Connect (USA)/Sky Go (UK)
Friday, Dec. 5	7 p.m.	Albacete	Levante	Levante	/
Friday, Dec. 5	7 p.m.	Getafe	Eibar	Eibar	/
Friday, Dec. 5	9 p.m.	Real Betis	Almeria	Almeria	/

For the Sky Go app, click here.

For BeIN Sports Connect, click here. 

Time to Rest Some Starters

Daniel Tejedor/Associated Press

Real Madrid beat UD Cornella in the first leg, while Sevilla romped to a 6-1 win over Sabadell. Atletico Madrid will face off against L'Hospitalet, and Barcelona take on Huesca. Daunting opposition? Not exactly.

With the 2014-15 campaign nearing its midway point, now would be a good time for the managers of the top clubs to rest some starters. Not just the biggest stars, like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but six or even seven guys who have so far played too many minutes.

Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti already confirmed he's been eyeing this match for the return of Jese Rodriguez, via Bleacher Report UK's Tim Collins:

As shared by Realmadridplace, the Italian will be resting a number of key contributors:

Resting your star contributors has a number of benefits: Apart from the obvious advantage to the fitness of you best players, some playing time can only help some of the fringe players. Someone like Javier Hernandez has hardly featured for Los Blancos so far—it will do his form and confidence good to feast on lowly Cornella.

And why not introduce some youngsters while we're at it? With a safe buffer of four away goals and a slumping opponent from the Segunda B, Los Blancos have the perfect opportunity to give some of their young talent their first taste of extended playing time at the Bernabeu.

Other top clubs should follow suit. Given these fixtures will be played out over two legs, the likes of Barcelona and Valencia can afford to play out a draw or close loss away from home in the first leg—the big guns will take care of business in the return legs.

Don't Expect Major Surprises

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

English cup football is beloved around the globe for its unpredictability—every year, at least one Cinderella story develops, and several big teams exit the FA Cup or Capital One Cup in the early stages.

The same doesn't apply to the Copa del Rey. We have to go all the way back to 2006 to find an edition that wasn't won by one of Spain's top five or six clubs, when Espanyol beat Real Zaragoza in the final.

A quick look at this year's La Liga standings reveals the same top clubs occupying the first five spots: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla. The gap in quality between those five and the rest of the pack is significant, and it'll show in the Round of 32 of the Copa.

The fact Sevilla will charge as little as €5 for tickets for their match against Sabadell tells you all you need to know of how the big clubs view their opposition, via Inside La Liga:

The Copa del Rey is a fantastic competition, and usually one of the most fiercely contested national cups once the final stages arrive. But at this early stage of the tournament, it simply isn't as exciting as its counterparts from England or Italy, where the smaller teams always seem to cause more upsets.

Spain's top teams aren't unbeatable, but it's close. Over the course of two legs, don't expect any of the big guns to fall at the hands of a team from the lower divisions.

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