JAKARTA The Copa del Rey semifinals this season will bring together two eternal rivals, Real Madrid against Barcelona. In the first leg, the two teams will compete with each other at the Santiago Benaweu Stadium, Friday, March 3 at 03.00 a.m. Indonesian Western Time (WIB).
Los Blancos beat their city rivals Atletico Madrid 3-1 in the last eight to advance so far. Meanwhile Xavi Hernandez's side only needed one goal to get rid of Real Sociedad.
When meeting Atletico, Madrid trailed goals from their former player Alvaro Morata before Rodrygo forced extra time. In that extra round, Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior each scored one goal to extend Los Blancos' journey.
Staying in the Copa del Rey makes Madrid also have a chance to win the quadruple (four titles in a season). The trophy chest of the team from the Spanish capital is certainly impatient to welcome the Copa del Rey title which they have never won in the last seven years.
The last time they won was in the 2013/2014 season when they beat Barcelona in the final.
Against the Catalunya team in the early hours of the morning will also be Madrid's first Copa del Rey semifinals since the 2018/2019 season. In that season Los Blancos failed to reach the final after losing 1-4 on aggregate to the team they will face this morning.
In that year, Real Madrid drew 1-1 in the first leg before being eliminated with a 0-3 defeat at Bernabeu. However, with the unfavorable performance and fitness problem, this latest El Clasico is likely not very smooth for La Blaugrana.
For Barcelona, the Copa del Rey and La Liga Spain are the two remaining trophies that can meet their expectations this season. This is after their journey in the European League ran aground as a result of suffering defeat to Manchester United in the second leg which took place at Old Trafford.
After the chances in Europe were closed by the Red Devils, Catalunya troops now certainly want to triumph on the domestic stage. Therefore, it is not surprising that Xavi was furious after a surprising defeat to Almeria last weekend in La Liga.
The result made their points spacing with Madrid as closest competitors in the league shrinking to seven points from the 23 matches they had played. This means that the chance for the capital team to defend their title is now still open.
Despite failing to widen the distance of points to ten, leading the top of the standings remains a good advantage for Barcelona. However, suffering a successive defeat for the first time since April last year was not what Barcelona wanted ahead of El Clasico.
In addition, Barcelona are also confirmed to be present at the Bernabeu without their flagship striker Robert Lewandowski. The Polish international had to step aside from the squad because he was suffering from an injury he got against Almeria.
The first leg in the morning will mark the 52nd competitive Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Blaugrana won 3-1 in the Supercopa de Espana final last January, but Los Blancos also managed to win with the same score at the Bernabeu in October.
The first leg of the last 16 of the Copa del Rey
Real Madrid Vs Barcelona
Santiago Bernabeu
03.00 WIB
Predictions of the line-up:
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Nacho; Kroos, Tchouameni, Modric; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; De Jong, Busquets, Roberto; Raphinha, Torres, Gavi.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
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