Place in Copa del Rey Final up for grabs between Real Madrid and Barcelona
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Real Madrid and Barcelona played out a 1-1 draw in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg. The Catalans battled back from a goal deficient to earn the draw. The two sides will meet on Wednesday with a berth in the final on the line. The winner of the tie will battle either Valencia or Real Betis, who play on Thursday.
Barcelona warmed up for the fixture with a win over Sevilla at the weekend. Lionel Messi’s hat-trick not only downed Sevilla, but it reconfirmed Barcelona’s reliance on the Argentine. Barcelona did have to come back twice against Sevilla until they ultimately pulled ahead for a 4-2 win. There are plenty of weaknesses in this Barcelona side, but will Real Madrid be able to exploit them?
Real Madrid saw off Levante on Sunday night thanks to two penalties. Los Blancos were highly unconvincing in their win as Levante pushed them the entire 90 minutes. Making Madrid’s chances of victory over their arch-rivals more difficult is the fact they have over 24-hours less rest. Barcelona played on Saturday and it wasn’t until Sunday night that Real Madrid’s fixture against Levante was contested.
Not only will Real Madrid and Barcelona meet on Wednesday night, but the two teams will play again at the weekend in La Liga. It isn’t ideal for either side as many of the same players will play both fixtures.
Solari will most likely be without Marcos Llorente and Isco. Both missed Sunday’s win. Meanwhile, Barcelona will be without midfielder Arthur Melo. Solari has Madrid playing far better post-Christmas. But that doesn’t mean Los Blancos will be able to step up and knock off their rivals. There is no doubt winning in the semi-final is more important than claiming victory at the weekend in La Liga – Barcelona are nine points ahead of Real Madrid. Both teams will go for victory in the cup.
Barcelona are undefeated in their last four games against Real Madrid in all competitions. Two of those matches ended in victory. In each of their last 30 games in all competitions against one another, there have been at least 2.0 goals or more scored. In just 18 of their last 57 games against one another has one of the two teams failed to score.
The Copa del Rey semi-final second leg will be won by Barcelona with both teams scoring and over 2.5 goals tallied. Both clubs want to reach the cup final and they will go all out to get there.
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