A wounded Barcelona who is currently suffering from injuries of main players like Pedri, Dembele, and the new additions to the mix is Lewandowski and Christensen will face Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg on Thursday hunting for an El Classico win at the Santiago Bernabeu to take the upper hand in the first leg of Copa Del Rey.
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What’s the state of mind of both the teams before Copa Del Rey leg 1?
Despite missing the duo of Pedri and Ousmane Dembele, Xavi rested other important players in the 1-0 defeat by Almeria on Sunday and bottled the chance to take 10 points to lead over arch-rivals Real Madrid. Xavi should have secured the win with his best team and then must have substituted the players which show quite inexperience in his managerial career.
Adding to Barca’s trouble ahead of the Clasico, La Liga top scorer Robert Lewandowski has suffered a hamstring strain and will miss the El Classico. Delivering what Xavi described as the “worst performance of the season” at Almeria, Barcelona suffered its second consecutive defeat after it was knocked out of the Europa League by Manchester United at Old Trafford in the absence of Gavi, Pedri, and Dembele. Xavi has been poor in Europe this season but the main focus has always been the La Liga and domestic cups like Copa Del Rey and Super Copa de Espania(which Barca won this season).
Real Madrid managed a disappointing derby draw against Atletico Madrid on Saturday at their home after an emphatic 5-2 win over Liverpool at Anfield, Carlo Ancelotti’s side can get their revenge for losing 3-1 to Barcelona in Super Copa de Espania finals. Alaba and Mendy will be missing the El Classico. Since the club world cup win, Real Madrid has been catching up the form lately if we remove the draw against Atletico Madrid.
Predicted 11 in Copa Del Rey 1st leg
Xavi can go with the pairing of Kounde and Garcia at the back and Araujo as an RB and Balde as LB against Real Madrid with the trio of Frenkie, Busi, and Kessie/Pablo Torre in the middle. In the attack, we can see Raphinha as a right winger, Ferran Torres as False 9, and Gavi as an interior Left winger.
While Real Madrid will go with the Centre back pairing of Militao and Rudiger, Nacho as LB, and Carvahal as RB. In the middle, we can see Kroos, Modric, and Camavinga and in the front Vinicius, Benzema, and Asensio will take the charge.