Real Madrid hosted their eternal rivals Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu in a big mid-week Copa del Rey semi-final clash this Wednesday. After a relatively even first leg in the Catalan capital, Los Blancos were slight favourites to earn themselves a ticket to the grand final. But once again, Barcelona proved to be at home in Madrid and blew Solari’s boys out of the water and out of the competition with a 3-0 victory.
Still, the scoreboard is a bit misleading in this case as the hosts were the dominant side for the majority of the game but were extremely wasteful in front of goal. Add some Marc-Andre ter Stegen heroics to the mix and you have a recipe for disaster for Santiago Solari and his troops.
This tactical analysis will use statistics to dissect how Barcelona ‘out-Realed’ Real Madrid to advance to their sixth consecutive Copa del Rey final with a big chance to make it five trophies in a row for the cabinet.
Lineups
Barcelona (4-4-2)
Starting XI: ter Stegen – Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba – Rakitić, Busquets, Sergi – Messi, Suarez, Dembele
Bench: Cillessen, Umtiti, Arthur, Vidal, Aleñá, Coutinho, Malcom
Coach: Ernesto Valverde
Real Madrid (4-3-3)
Starting XI: Navas – Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Reguilon – Modrić, Casemiro, Kroos – Lucas, Benzema, Vinicius
Bench: Courtois, Nacho, Bale, Marcelo, Valverde, Asensio, Ceballos
Coach: Santiago Solari
To read the full analysis, click here.
