Barcelona can deal a huge moral blow to its arch-rivals Real Madrid, when it receives it on Wednesday at the Camp Nou in the second leg of the semi-finals of the Spanish Football Cup competition, after it suffered a 0-0 loss in its own home last month.
And if the Catalan team is destined to displace the capital team and being ahead of it by 12 points in the local league, this means that it will eliminate a large percentage of the hopes of its rivals to win any local title this season, and therefore it will only be left for it to successfully defend its title in the Champions League, where it faces Chelsea. English in the quarter-finals of the continental competition next week.
Barcelona wants to establish its advantage over Real this season, as it defeated it in the last three matches that brought them together in the Spanish Super Cup 3-1 in Riyadh, then 1-0 in the first leg of the cup semi-finals at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid and 2-1 in the league at Camp Stadium. no.
Barcelona presents a pragmatic performance in the local league under the supervision of its coach and former midfielder, Xavi Hernandez, to find himself on the verge of winning his first league title since 2019.
On the other hand, he did not achieve success at the continental level first in the Champions League, as he was eliminated from the group stage in a group that included Bayern Munich, Italian Inter and Czech Victoria Plzen, and continued his career in the European League (Europa League), where he also exited in the qualifying supplement to the final price round. At the hands of Manchester United, England.
As for Real Madrid, it suffered from significant ups and downs in the level this season, which made it far from competing strongly for the local title.
But with the presence of veteran players such as French striker Karim Benzema, veteran Croatian playmaker Luka Modric and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the team is able to turn the result in its favor in one match. Seasoned Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti can also rely on the youth element through the brilliant Brazilian duo Vinicius Junior and Rodrigo.
Benzema starred specifically in his team’s last league match against Valladolid, scoring a wonderful hat-trick in 7 minutes.
Barcelona advanced in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu with a goal scored by Real Madrid’s Brazilian defender Eder Militao, a mistake in his own net, contrary to the course of the game, in a meeting Real Madrid was the best party in it, but Barcelona played as a defender throughout the ninety minutes, which necessitated Ancelotti’s criticism of the Catalan team’s style, saying after the match “They only had 35 percent possession, I’m surprised Barcelona played like that.”
He added, “I don’t think they deserved to win, and if we play this way in the second leg, we will have many chances. I don’t think Barcelona will approach the match in the same way at home.”
The confrontation will also be exciting between the top scorers of the two Polish teams, Robert Lewandowski, in the ranks of the host, and Benzema, the Golden Ball holder last season, with the royal team.
Lewandowski leads the scorers’ ranking in the domestic league with 17 goals compared to 14 for the Frenchman, while the number of Polish goals rises to 27 goals in 34 matches in various competitions and the Frenchman to 22 goals in 33 matches in various competitions.
Whatever the identity of the two teams qualified for the final match, he will be a candidate for the title, because he will face Osasuna, the winner, at the expense of Athletic Bilbao 2-1 on aggregate.