Barcelona, who lost to Granada only as recently as Saturday evening, were recently eliminated at the quarter final stage of the Champions League by that very same league-leading Atleti side and are now third, four points off the pace with only the Copa del Rey as a trophy who’s destiny is still within their hands.
Real, are not faring much better. Their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo has recently been forced to the side-lines after Madrid confirmed tests had found problems within his left hamstring, although boss Carlo Ancelotti insists it will not force ‘CR7’ to miss any games in the near future, including the Copa del Rey final. Real have been dealt a raw hand in the Champions League semi-final draw after scraping past Borussia Dortmund in the last eight, as they are now scheduled to face defending champions’ Bayern Munich and the Bundesliga winners will be far from pushovers in the encounter. In the league, they sit above Barcelona, but only by a single point, which is still three away from Atletico in top spot.
With both sides struggling to find their usual dominant selves this season, it is little surprise that bookmakers are finding it just as hard to split the teams, as fans and pundits alike. 32Red has Barcelona down as slight favourites to edge the tie, at odds of 2.46, while Real are only marginally listed as underdogs, at 2.76. Given there is little to choose between the sides, you may be best avoiding a bet on match odds and simply moving to 32Red’s dedicated casino, which offers slots and table games.
The last time the two sides met, which was only in March, the sides fought valiantly to a seven goal thriller, 4-3 in Barcelona’s favour, in a game that saw not one, not two, but three penalties and a red card involved as well. It was one of the fiercer and intense battles between the sides, who have fought so vigorously between each other that their fixture is now dubbed as ‘El Classico’ and you would fail to begrudge either side wishing for a slightly less complicated tie on Wednesday evening.
With the way each sides’ seasons are shaping up, the Copa del Rey is likely to be the only trophy either side have a stone-wall chance of securing to their respective trophy rooms, and on Wednesday we could be seeing a fight of desperation between the sides, rather than the spectacle of class and talent that we both know and love. Move over ‘El Classico’, it appears Wednesday may eventually be dubbed ‘El Desperado’.
The thing is, Real Madrid don’t need to just beat Barcelona. They need to score at least 2 goals if they want to get to the next round. Barcelona at the Camp Nou is difficult but I’ve seen weirder things happen in football. It’s possible.