Copa del Rey betting tips: Barcelona set to finish off Real Madrid in El Clasico semi-final
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 5 April 2023
Wednesday night brings El Clasico 5.0 as Barcelona and Real Madrid meet for the fifth time this season. Tipstrr football expert Sergiu Baltuta takes a closer look at their Copa del Rey semi-final.
This season's first encounter between the two Spanish giants was Real's 3-1 La Liga success in October, but the other three games have all gone the way of the Catalans.
In the Super Cup Xavi's team won 3-1, followed by a 1-0 success in the first leg of this Copa del Rey semi-final at the Bernabeu, and then a 2-1 win in the reverse league fixture last month.
With the La Liga title as good as won by their rivals and with a defeat in the Super Cup as well, Real Madrid need to overturn the 0-1 home defeat in the first leg to avoid conceding all the domestic competitions to their arch rivals this season.
However, unlike Barcelona, Carlo Ancelotti's team are still involved in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals so they could yet go on to win two trophies this season.
Another semi-final success would take Barcelona into their 10th final in the last 13 years (six wins), while Real Madrid have not lifted the Copa Del Rey since 2014.
Ancelotti was also in charge back then, while current Barcelona boss Xavi was on the pitch pulling the creative strings for the blaugrana club.
Barcelona are undefeated at Camp Nou in La Liga, but they did suffer a 0-3 home reversal against Bayern in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
On the other side Real Madrid have won 14 of their 21 away games in all competitions, but their five defeats do include that 2-1 reversal here three weeks ago, although they managed to win the previous two trips to Camp Nou, 2-1 and 3-1.
In their last games in La Liga both teams managed convincing victories, with Barcelona winning 4-0 at bottom-placed Elche, while Real Madrid thumped Valladolid 6-0.
A brace from Barcelona striker Lewandowski and a hat-trick from Madrid's Benzema sees both world-class strikers hitting top form just in time for the final El Clasico of the season.
