Johan Cruyff reveals that Real Madrid’s victory in Copa del Rey could work in favour of Barcelona
Johan Cruyff believes that Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey final victory could work wonders for Barcelona when the two rivals meet each other in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final. Cruyff was talking ahead of the El Clasico semi-final that
is set to take place on Wednesday, April 27, at Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
He insisted that Madrid’s victory in the final has eroded Los Galacticos’ underdogs status and Barcelona would have their work cut out once the two sides meet. He admitted that the momentum is surely with Los Blancos after playing out a 1-1 draw in their
Primera Division encounter last Saturday at the Bernabeu and then completing a triumph in the Copa del Rey final.
The Former Barcelona manager claimed that the Catalan giants usually come good under pressure and once the favourites tag has been removed alongside their name, this could actually work in favour of Pep Guardiola’s team. He added that this will be the third
time that both the clubs will be locking horns in twelve days time and it is certainly not an easy task for the two quality sides to maintain the same standards.
He did praise Jose Mourinho’s team that defeated Barcelona in the Copa del Rey but confirmed that Catalan side is still the best amongst the two and favourites to go through to the final of the Champions League.
Cruyff further added, "Real Madrid are perhaps in better form at the moment, but that could only be to Barcelona's advantage if Madrid have that feeling as well. Nevertheless, Barcelona are still the better team of the two. [Jose] Mourinho would have been
close to winning La Liga instead of [Pep] Guardiola if Madrid were the better team, but this is not the case."
The 64-year-old further voiced his opinion about the quality of the two sides saying that Barcelona are a much composed side and certainly possesses better quality then Real. He justified his point by mentioning the eight-point gap between the two sides
as a proof that Barca are a better side.
He concluded by saying, "There's no reason to be worried for the Barcelona fans. The draw in Bernabeu secured the league title, while Barca came close to winning the Copa. It's impossible to be brilliant in every game and Barcelona haven't turned into a
weak team all of a sudden."
Barcelona are currently leading the La Liga table with 88 points while Real Madrid are second in the table, eight points adrift with five games remaining in the campaign.
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