Ahead Of Real Madrid Vs Barcelona, Xavi Has Special Players To Make Vinicius Turn Off

Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernandez. (Photo: Twitter @FCBarcelona)

JAKARTA - Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernandez will send one player to guard Real Madrid player, Vinicius Junior. Xavi knows very well Vinicius will be very dangerous if left free.

Barcelona will face Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Copa Del Rey. In the first leg, Real Madrid had the opportunity to host first.

Los Blancos will host Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Friday, March 3 at 03.00 WIB. Barcelona will obviously be wary because Real Madrid have a positive trend when appearing at home. There are several players who will get more attention.

One of them is Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior. This season, Vinicius Junior again showed his sharpness with 18 goals from 36 matches in all competitive events.

In the Copa del Rey, Vinicius has recorded two goals and one assist from two matches.

That note made Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernandez, so aware of Vinicius' movements and games. In fact, he even sent Ronald Araujo specifically to reduce Vinicius' movement.

Later Araujo will be plotted by Xavi as a right-back even though he has been fielded as a central defender more often so far.

"Of course, (Ronald) Araujo is a very strong defender. He showed it and it will be an entertaining battle later," Xavi said, quoted by Football Espana.

Xavi's decision to appoint Araujo to neutralize Vinicius was not without reason. The Uruguayan-born defender was a player who managed to quell Vinicius when Barcelona won over Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final.

At that time Araujo was able to keep Vinicius from moving for almost 90 minutes even though he had to be withdrawn due to injury. He was absent from the first volume of el clasico due to injury when Barcelona were forced to surrender 1-3 at Camp Nou.

Ronald Araujo himself has played as Barcelona's right-back four times this season out of 11 opportunities since he joined the senior team.