Copa del Rey: Real Madrid - FC Barcelona 1-2

[Superfly]

Cuenca - Messi - Alexis

[Kinlejus]

I am pretty amused having seen that diver in Cuenca even be mentioned here.

[Maria]

The biggest problem against RM will be the pressure Pinto will have to face(because the "innovator" Mou has copied , among other things from Barca, our teams pressing style, which beggins with the atack). So if Valdes wasn't capable to cope with this in december, my hope for Pinto is very slim.

Unless Mou decides to park the bus and put Pepe in midfield..then we need to pray for Messi's legs.

[Myrmecophile]

I am pretty amused having seen that diver in Cuenca even be mentioned here.

[Beast]

It's not possible to prepare for Messi, Cesc and Alexis up front. Against those forwards, your only hope is to stop the ball before it gets to them. And then you have to score on the counterattack.

Espanol did well on both accounts, except they did not finish well enough. This was a very rare accomplishment, they deserve a lot of credit.

RM has never been able to keep the defensive pressure on the Barca back line and midfield for even a half hour. They just don't seem to have the endurance or concentration. Mou can't fix this during the season.

RM has two other fatal problems against Barca:
Their goal scorers do not rise to the occasion, the Barca defense contains them. Every time I see this, it seems incredible, RM has such spectacular offensive talent.
Their defenders do not have the quickness and agility to contain the Barca attack, especially Messi. Pepe matches up well, except for his fouling problem, but all the rest get fun around. These same defenders are fantastic against all other teams.

RM is a great team this year, except the way they match up with Barca. Barca will win about half the Classicos, RM will win about 1/4, 1/4 draws. That makes it pretty unlikely RM will win any 2 legged ties.

RM does have a considerable advantage on corner kicks, free kicks and penalty kicks.

Nice one and i agree with every word.. maybe with the exception of Benzema in our attacking line up

[barcelonista]

It's not possible to prepare for Messi, Cesc and Alexis up front. Against those forwards, your only hope is to stop the ball before it gets to them. And then you have to score on the counterattack.

Espanol did well on both accounts, except they did not finish well enough. This was a very rare accomplishment, they deserve a lot of credit.

RM has never been able to keep the defensive pressure on the Barca back line and midfield for even a half hour. They just don't seem to have the endurance or concentration. Mou can't fix this during the season.

RM has two other fatal problems against Barca:
Their goal scorers do not rise to the occasion, the Barca defense contains them. Every time I see this, it seems incredible, RM has such spectacular offensive talent.
Their defenders do not have the quickness and agility to contain the Barca attack, especially Messi. Pepe matches up well, except for his fouling problem, but all the rest get fun around. These same defenders are fantastic against all other teams.

RM is a great team this year, except the way they match up with Barca. Barca will win about half the Classicos, RM will win about 1/4, 1/4 draws. That makes it pretty unlikely RM will win any 2 legged ties.

RM does have a considerable advantage on corner kicks, free kicks and penalty kicks.

A bit too optimistic for my liking. In the last Clasico even an amateur like me could see some major tactical errors from Real Madrid. For once, Cristiano playing on the left who didn't do any defensive work and allowed Alves to dominate the whole flank on his own. You can bet on it that Di Maria will start on the left this time. He's the only player I've ever seen managing to pin Alves back last season for large parts of a game. He's incredibily fast and once instructed to, he works defensively as if his life depended on it. Alves created a goal and several more moments of havoc in the Bernabeu. After the Fabregas assist, he provided another inch perfect ball on Xavi's head (who's unfortunately as good with his head as Andy Carroll is with his feet). They will concentrate on containing him this time around.

Second: Özil started. Which he shouldn't ever again against Barcelona. How many times did he disappear now against us? EVERY time? Mourinho knows this but with a 6 point lead and since they were in good form and at home, he fancied his chances of attacking football in their usual 4-2-3-1 shape. It failed once again. He'll go with a 3 man midfield this time around: Di Maria-Benzema-Ronaldo in attack. Lass-Xabi-Khedira in midfield.

Those 2 little "fixes" alone will improve them a lot. Oh, and the fact that Ronaldo has to prove something now and should be ultra motivated. If he wasn't so greedy and just squared the ball to Di Maria who was completely free infront of goal when they were still 1-0 up, they would have won that game. Only small details decided that game. Not Real Madrid's inferior quality. If Espanyol, Getafe, Sociedad and Bilbao can contain us, Real Madrid can do so (and a bit more) as well.

[Maria]

@barcelonista

I agree with you that Mou won't make the same mistake again, but Khedira is injured for a month, Arbeloa is suspended for the game at Bernabeu and Di Maria is still recovering. So it will most likely be something like this:

Lass----------Ramos-----------Varane-----------Marcelo
Xabi----------Pepe------------Coentrao
Di Maria------Benzema---------CR

or

Lass----------Ramos-----------Varane-----------Marcelo
Xabi----------Pepe------------Coentrao
CR-----------Higuain----------Benzema

And I'm not so sure that Cristiano is going to miss in front off Pinto like he did against VV. The player that, apart from CR, seems to be out off form is Xabi..but it's not like these two ever played briliantly against us..so my major concerns are Benzema and Pepe(for obvious reasons).

[barcelonista]

Khedira is out for a month? I didn't know that. Then they might play 4-2-3-1 again. Because I don't think they'll throw 18 year old Varane in against the likes of Messi. He might get shocked for his life and consider retirement after the game once he sees who he will be dealing with for the next 10 years in his career if he stays at Real Madrid. But then again I actually rate Varane highly. So he could do a decent job with enough cover (3 man midfield with Pepe) infront of him.

[FCBarca]

Nice one and i agree with every word.. maybe with the exception of Benzema in our attacking line up

You must be over the moon about Benzema, eh?...You think he still would've gotten this far, this quick without Mourinho?...I wonder...I hadn't given Mou any credit for youth development but credit must be due to him for the work he did on a kid who was known for being lazy...He's had a Pedro transformation

[zanela]

I hope they play Albiol() in their backline, and i think they will. If Mou is planning on an open game (i doubt) he'd need the industry of Lass, so expect a Lass-Alonso-Coentrao midfield. If not Pepe in midfield with Lass at RB.

[jamrock]

real will win.

[mateopol]

You don't beat Mourinho twice in such a manner (1-3 in the Bernabeu) with the same lineup again.

Line-up won't be the same as in League Clasico. Pinto will be in the goal

We have no depth due to all injuries, so Mou will know our starting XI. Before LL he wasn't sure, fans have dilemma, press, we finally have options. Now with Villa and Pedro gone the starting XI is pretty much obvious.

My prediction for Copa is that Real Madrid will go through if Pinto plays for us in the goal. If Pep put VV in the goal, we are going through. He won't, because Pinto is Copa goalie, 'that would be unfair to Pinto, who is fantastic person' bla bla and we will have to see Pepe and Marcelo celebrating on Camp Nou

Madrid only win in 12 games vs Barca in Pep era come when Pinto was in the goal. I like Pinto but he shouldn't play against RM. Play VV, and if we go through Pinto can play in semis and final, but not in El Clasico, you don't play with back-up goalie against the biggest rival, especially in their stadium.

[UEFA_Barça_Chris]

Madrid against over two legs...better get ready

[Barca4eva]

I predict 5-0 Barca Agg.

[barcelonista]

I'll go and buy some diapers next week. 180 minutes of Pinto vs. high pressing Real Madrid.