When you are among the biggest football clubs in the world, there often comes a point in the season when you need to decide what is most important to you. In Europe, winning the league, or at least finishing in the top 3 or 4, is very often job one, as that means that Champions League football will be on the cards for the following season. Given how lucrative that tournament is for the teams involved, it is perhaps no surprise that the CL is high on the level of importance. Falling behind those two are the domestic cup trophies, which in Spain translates to the Copa del Rey.
We are down to the semi-final stage in that tournament, with bitter rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona about to meet in the second leg after Madrid snatched a 1-1 tie, and an away goal, in the first leg. This one is hanging delicately in the balance, and while home field advantage and an away goal would appear to swing things in the favor of Real Madrid, we have come to expect the unexpected when these two go head to head, just as the Odds for El Clasico dictate.
Real Madrid vs Barcelona Odds & Pick for Copa del Rey Semifinals
🔜 #ElClásico🔊 [SOUND ON]The great decade: 9 wins in 10 years.🔵🔴 #WeColorFootball pic.twitter.com/CTKykLrp3l
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) 25 de febrero de 2019
- When: Wednesday, February 27 at 3 PM EST
- Where: Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid
- TV: Bein
- Live Stream: Bein Sports
- Soccer Betting Odds: Barcelona +136 (Total 3)
Head-To-Head (Last 5 Games)
- Real Madrid Victories: 1
- Real Madrid Goals: 6
- Draws: 2
- Barcelona Victories: 2
- Barcelona Goals: 11
Why bet on Real Madrid?
It is more than fair to suggest that a La Liga title now appears to be out of the reach of Real Madrid, which means that they might just view the Copa del Rey as a nice little consolation prize. Madrid is starting to get healthy again, with Sergio Ramos due back in the line-up for this one, while striker Isco is set to make a return, albeit on the bench. He is certainly a good option to have if Madrid find themselves needing a goal to move on later in this game.
They will certainly need to be better than they were the last time that Barcelona came to town, as Madrid went down 3-0 in that meeting. The 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp, though, suggests that Real Madrid might just be in the position to move on and face either Valencia or Real Betis in the final.
Expected Line-up
- 1-K. Navas
- 12-Marcelo
- 4-S. Ramos
- 5-R. Varane
- 2-D. Carvajal
- 10-L. Modrić
- 8-T. Kroos
- 14-Casemiro
- 28-V. Junior
- 17-L. Vásquez
- 9-K. Benzema
Why bet on Barcelona?
While Barcelona has been continuing to pick up points and maintain their lead at the top of La Liga, where they are currently 9 points up on Real Madrid, you can certainly argue that they are not playing particularly good football. That they have been able to still grind out results during this stretch speaks to the quality of this team, but they will need to be much better in a very tough position here.
They overcame deficits to Levante and Sevilla in the earlier rounds of this competition, but on both of those occasions, they had the benefit of being at home for the second leg. The concern for Barcelona fans is that this competition falls down the pecking order behind the league and the Champions League, so just how motivated are they going to be?
Expected Line-up
- 1-M. ter Stegen
- 23-S. Umtiti
- 3-Piqué
- 18-J. Alba
- 2-N. Semedo
- 4-I. Rakitić
- 5-S. Busquets
- 23-A. Vidal
- 10-L. Messi
- 9-L. Suárez
- 11-O. Dembélé
Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction for Real Madrid vs Barcelona
Having surrendered the away goal in the opening leg, Barcelona is going to need to come out and try and score on Wednesday night. That could very well open things up, which means we could see a high-scoring game. I am taking Madrid to win in a thriller.
Score: Real Madrid 3 – Barcelona 2
