The semifinals of the Copa Del Rey will feature one of the biggest games in the world as Barcelona and Real Madrid will meet for the first leg of the semifinals. Only one team can go on to lift the trophy as the winner will face either Osasuna or Athletico Bilbao.
Barcelona are on track to win La Liga and currently seven points ahead of Real Madrid and Xavi has already secured his first trophy in charge with a Spanish Super Cup victory, also over Real Madrid. But with Barca falling out of Europa League at the hands of Manchester United, this is a competition that they need to win to have a successful season. It’s also an important competition for Real Madrid as their La Liga dominance is under threat. Los Blancos are still in the running for a Champions League victory but with the team so many points behind, they may need to secure a double — not counting the Club World Cup — to feel good about how things have gone.
With three El Clasico’s coming in the next 35 days, let’s take a look at some numbers that could define the matchup:
8: Goals allowed by Barcelona in 23 league matches
This is a bit of a misleading statistic as while Barca allows 0.35 goals per La Liga match played, it’s a number that ballons when they enter cup competition. Across 15 cup matches this season, Barcelona have allowed 19 goals for a much more reasonable 1.23 goals allowed per match. While that’s still a great number, it does show that when Barcelona’s defense is tested by good attackers — which Real Madrid have — that their defense can be bested. It’s especially an issue when Barcelona are doing things like playing Marcos Alonso at center back which is great for a possession-based game but can come back to haunt them if they’re on the back foot.
2: Losses for Los Blancos when Karim Benzema has scored
It may feel simplistic to boil things down to, if Benzema scores, Real Madrid win, but this season it has proven to be quite true. Benzema has struggled with fitness this season but he has still scored in an astonishing 14 matches across all competitions. The only losses for the team when he scores have been to Villarreal and … Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final. Benzema will want to have a different outcome in this match but it is one that will be defined by the strikers.
1-1: Barcelona and Real Madrid’s head-to-head record this season
Despite what the table may say, these teams can’t be separated by much with one winning each match so far this season, 3-1. Real Madrid’s win at home came back in October with both teams having relatively full-strength lineups. Barcelona won in a neutral venue but Real Madrid had quite a big loss with Eduardo Camavinga sitting at the base of midfield instead of Aurelien Tchouameni.
Tchouameni may be the next most important player to Real Madrid after Benzema since they don’t have another natural defensive midfielder with Casemiro now at Manchester United, but he won’t be able to slow Barcelona’s attack on his own.
Robert Lewandowski will likely miss El Clasico with a hamstring injury but Ferran Torres can fill in when needed in the role while Raphina has shined with Ousmane Dembele sidelined. Xavi will want to bounce back from being knocked out of Europa League while if the Real Madrid that put five goals unanswered past Liverpool shows up, it’ll be quite the show.