FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid Copa Del Rey Final Preview

FC Barcelona will be looking to officially win their first silverware of this season, when they take on Real Madrid in the final of Copa del Rey tomorrow night. Ok, technically since we have already won the Spanish super cup, this is going to be the second silverware and applying common sense this would be actually our third, considering that we have almost sealed the La Liga trophy with the draw at Bernebeu. Since Mathematically Real Madrid have the chance to win the league and the fact that Super cup is kind of a silverware which always is a timid affair, the Copa Del Rey as I said officially would be the first Silverware could win this season. After the 1-1 draw at Bernebeu, both cammps were in overdrive, claiming victory belongs to them. Real Madrid did took pride of the fact that they almost won against us after going down to ten players and a goald down. The criticism of Stefano did dampen that spirit a bit but still they seemed up beat. Meanwhile the Catalan press celebrated the fact that we have pushed Real madrid out of the League with that draw. There were a lot of criticism about Mourinho's strategy but in the end eventhough we were done in by a dubious penalty call, we the general optimism was that such a tough fight prepares the team well for the tough task ahead. Mestalla, where the final is due to take place tomorrow has been a very good ground for us as far as King's cup is considered. Two seasons ago we won their first Silverware of that season by defeating Bilbao 4-1. The last time Real Madrid met Barca at Mestalla in Copa del Rey final, they ended as the losing team which happened in 1990.

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Real Madrid - 1, Barca -1

FC Barcelona failed to muster three points against ten men Real madrid

FC Barcelona maintained their eight points lead at the top of table with a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernebeu. Messi never had scored against Mourinho and Ronaldo niether against Barca coming into this match. In the end both of broken that dubious record were broken courtesy of penalties on either end. Mourinho will claim moral victory as he managed to draw with Barca with ten man. So this result put Wednesday's final a huge affair.Guardiola started with Puyol who just came back from injury. He partnered Pique, Alves and Adriano in the defense. The midfield had Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets, Messi, Pedro and Villa made the attacking trio. Mourinho went with a tighter defense with Pep playing a deep lying midfielder role. We believe that he will employ this tactic, but never expected him to do this in the League match. They had Ramos, Albiol, Carvalho and Marcelo in defense. Pepe played the deep lying midfielder role. Khedira and Alonso played the usual double pivot role in midfield. Mari, Benzema and Ronaldo made the attacking trio. Without Ozil, this was a very defensive set up and Mourinho was looking to break Guardiola's winning streak with such a line-up.

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Real Madrid vs Barca, The Return of El Clasico

FC barcelona vs Real Madrid Clash promises to be a Classic

Update: Puyol has been declared fit and is included in squad.

So it's officially starts tomorrow - The Grand Series of El Clasico. FC Barcelona will be going to Bernebeu to kill any ray of hope that lingers in the Real Madrid fans and players' mind of lifting the La Liga trophy. The funny part is that they may not have to force a victory to do that. Guardiola's boys enters this game in a bouyant mood, aided by the fact that they have registered five consecutive victories against their arch rivals. Not only they have done that, they have scored 16 goals in that process and the last match ended in a massive 5-0 victory at the Camp Nou. So, why shouldn't they be bouyant. But resting on the laurels of the last 5-0 victory could backfire on them. Real Madrid may be eight points behind us but they have looked more like a team than they appeared in the previous encounter. Add to that Real Madrid is playing at the Bernebeu, a fortress for most of the part of their season(barring Sporting defeat). Most of the top team across Europe and Spain have tried to defeat them this season at their home but only Sporting succeeded. So its better to treat it like our own Hercules defeat.

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