Madrid are to play the return leg of the Copa del Rey quarter final at the Camp Nou and they have all to play for against their arch rivals...
Barcelona and Real Madrid will be locking horns in another exciting Copa del Rey encounter, this time at the Camp Nou. The Spanish Champions have already triumphed over their arch rivals away from home, at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Barcelona won the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final with a score-line of 1-2. With two away goals to their advantage, the Spanish Champions will be heading to the second leg with a lot of confidence.
The last time Madrid won against Barcelona was in the final of the Copa del Rey which took place at the Mestalla. Since then, Madrid have not won a single game against La Blaugrana.
Team News: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604
Josep Guardiola will be hoping to take advantage of the home ground and the home crowd. The Catalans are currently favourites to win the second leg of the quarter-final, scheduled to take place at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona rested most of his important players during the weekend and it is expected that he will play them against Los Blancos. Guardiola has all the players available to him except the Dutch youngster, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ibrahim-Afellay-c16547, who is still recovering from his
respective injury.
Barcelona will try to score an early goal to take the tie out of Madrid’s reach; therefore, Guardiola will be opting for a more attacking line-up as the game starts in Catalonia.
Barcelona’s expected line-up is:
Victor Valdes; http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296.
Team News: Real Madrid
Real Madrid will head into the game with a lot of issues running in the background. The bust-up between Jose Mourinho and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011. However, the league leaders will be putting all such issues aside before facing
their arch rivals.
Mourinho will be playing his strongest team against the Spanish Champions. The Portuguese mentor has already hinted at Kaka and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Esteban-Granero-c12919 starting the game.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pepe-c29670, are the two players who are not expected to play feature in this fixture. While Albiol is still recovering from an injury, Pepe is awaiting approval of RFAF to allow him to feature in this fixture after a
stamp on Lionel Messi in the first leg.
Jose Mourinho will try to add more experience to the pitch. Last time, the Portuguese coach got everything right except the defensive tactics. With http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hamit-Altintop-c15652 playing as a right back, Andres Iniesta had a lot of space on the left wing which Real Madrid
simply cannot allow in order to qualify for the next round.
Real Madrid’s expected line-up is:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Karim-Benzema-c20350.
Prediction:
Even though Madrid have been playing phenomenally this season, there is no doubt that Josep Guardiola has the key to unlock Los Blancos’ defence. The Catalan coach has not lost a single game at Santiago Bernabeu or the Nou Camp.
With Barcelona having a two away-goal advantage against Jose Mourinho’s men, Guardiola will play his cards just right in order to qualify for the next round.
Barcelona are expected to win this home tie with a final score-line of 2-1. The man to watch in this fixture is Alexis Sanchez who has been impressive in all the recent fixtures in which he has featured in.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not reflect the editorial policy of www.bettor.com
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