PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Real Madrid

Yes, it's time for yet another Clásico! It's the fourth of the season (the fifth if we also count the preseason friendly in Las Vegas) and it sees FC Barcelona just one game away from a place in yet another Copa del Rey Final, what would be the eighth in the last ten years!

Real Madrid, meanwhile, have already gone for eight seasons without a single final appearance, and will be desperate not to make it nine.

But the odds are against the all-whites because not only do Barça have home advantage but they’re going into this second leg with a one-goal head start after winning 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu back on March 2.

The first leg

That was a curious Clásico. Madrid looked to be dominating, but were caught out at the back when Franck Kessie almost scored and Militão ended up putting the ball in his own net. From then on, Madrid piled on the pressure but a masterclass in defending from Barça ensured that Madrid didn’t manage a shot on target until the very last minute of the game.

Real now come to Spotify Camp Nou knowing that is the very same place where they were recently beaten 2-1 in La Liga, with Kessie scoring the winner in a dramatic finale after Madrid themselves thought they’d won it with an injury time goal that was scratched for offside.

Barça, who nobody will need reminding are twelve points clear of Madrid in the league table, have been on the front foot against their biggest rivals in recent meetings, having also beaten them in the Spanish Super Cup Final. That's three Clásico wins in a row and another win on Wednesday would tie the all-time record between the sides on 101 wins each.

It’s a fabulous turnaround after Madrid had won six of the previous seven meetings in all competitions.

No guarantee

But no matter how nice things are looking, Xavi insisted several times in his pre-game conference that his team are not the favourites to qualify. The thing is, El Clásico is not called that for nothing. These games rarely follow any kind of script and as the Barça coach was keen to point out, Real Madrid are experts at winning two-legged knockout ties, even when it requires mounting a comeback.

Another warning is that Barça have not won any of the last three semi-final fixtures at home to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey. They drew 1-1 in 2019, lost 3-1 in 2013 and drew 2-2 in 2012. That said, two of those three results were still good enough to ensure that the Catalans progressed.
Barça have not beaten Madrid at home in the cup since 1997, when Bobby Robson was manager and the goals in a 3-2 win were scored by Ronaldo Nazario, Miquel Ángel Nadal and Giovanni.

Osasuna through to the final

The prize for the winners is a place in the final in Seville on May 6. And the opposition will be Osasuna, who are through to the final for only the second time ever and the first time in 14 years after defeating Athletic Club 2-1 on aggregate. Tuesday's second leg in Bilbao went into extra time and was decided by Pablo Ibáñez's superb finish just four minutes before the game would have gone to penalties.

Osasuna's only other appearance in the final was in 2005, when they lost 2-1 to Betis.

Team news

Barça are missing all of the injured Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Ousmane Dembélé and Andreas Christensen. There’s no question that those are all key absences, but recent performances, including the 4-0 battering of Elche at the weekend, are testimony of how Xavi has established such a tight system that even when players of that calibre are unavailable, their absence is barely noted.

Ferland Mendy is side-lined for Real Madrid for an estimated six weeks, and Álvaro Rodríguez is also unfit, but otherwise Carlo Ancelotti has a full-strength squad to choose from. There were question marks regarding the fitness of Antonio Rüdiger, but it seems the German is good to go, and Mariano has also been declared available.

Xavi says

And finally, here's a reminder of some of the main points that the FC Barcelona manager made during his pre-game press conference...