La Liga
El Clasico: Real Madrid vs Barcelona Preview
Leg two of this Copa del Rey semi final kicks off at 3:00 pm EST Wednesday in the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid have a slightly meaningless advantage after securing a 1-1 draw away in the first leg. Interestingly, the two Spanish giants will also face off three days later in league action.
At the moment, Barcelona are heavily relying on star player Leo Messi to deliver the goals. However, it was Malcom who scored for the current champions in the first leg. The Brazilian wingers’ goal cancelling out Lucas Vasquez’ 6th minute tap-in after a sublime assist by Karim Benzema.
Team News
The home side are expected to deploy the same starting eleven from the first leg. Although it’s possible that head coach Santiago Solari hands Gareth Bale a start. The Welshman has scored 3 goals off the bench in the previous 5 La Liga matches and is currently motivated to earn a starting spot.
Only Marcos Llorente is unavailable for Los Blancos due to injury with midfielder Isco fully recovered. As a result, the Spaniard will be in the squad list but is not expected to feature. Keylor Navas will also take up his place between the sticks as the Costa Rican continues to play in cup matches.
Unlike their hosts, Barcelona are missing several players due to injury. Namely, Rafinha, Jasper Cillessen, Arthur and Thomas Vermaelen. Defender Samuel Umtiti recently returned from injury but head coach Ernesto Valverde will perhaps prefer his countryman Clement Lenglet on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, speedy attacker Ousmane Dembele will likely partner Messi and Luis Suarez in attack. Suarez is having a difficult season in front of goal for the Blaugrana but finally found the back of the net in league action on Saturday. Furthermore, the Uruguayan striker scored a hat-trick against Madrid earlier in the year.
Lineups and Prediction
Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Reguilon; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric; Vinicius, Benzema, Lucas
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Vidal, Busquets; Dembele, L Suarez, Messi
To say the home side’s recent record in the Copa del Rey is abysmal would be an understatement. In fact, Madrid’s 2014 lifting of the trophy was only the second time the whites had won since 1993.
With the league slipping away from them this year, Solari’s men will be desperate to lift a domestic cup after being crowned kings of Europe for the past three seasons.
Nevertheless, they will need to do something special to beat Valverde’s team. The Catalans have dominated Spain while their rivals ran riot in Europe and would love to knock out Real at home to continue the trend.
It will all come down to composure and the ability of the hosts to limit Leo Messi. Should the whites succeed in containing the Argentine, they stand a chance of reaching the final.
Real Madrid 2 – 1 Barcelona
Photo credit to MR GREEN via Flickr
