[Copa Del Rey] Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona

Well, what a way to kick off the first month of the new year. Another 2 weeks back to back of El Classico Madness!!


1st Leg in Madrid.
2nd Leg in Barcelona.

What do you predict will happen over the 2 legs?

-Line-Ups
-Results
-Goalscorers
-Flop/Top
-Expulsions
-Mou Moments
-Forum Reaction
-User Bans
-Mole's El Classico Review Part 2 & 3?

I think Barcelona will come out on top over the two legs, but Pinto may give us problems again this year.

Might as well be the finals, because the winner of the whole competition will be decided after this

Only 2 years ago the winner was a non-Barca/Madrid team. Madrid before last year had not won the trophy for something like 18 years, Raul has never won it in his life. It's entirely possible that the winner of the cup will be neither.

I hope one loses and then the other gets disqualified for being detrimental to goal legacy

get in there bilbao

I personally have my money on Mirandes

---------Pinto-----------
Alves-Puyol-Pique-Abidal
---------Busquets---------
---Xavi----------Iniesta-
--Messi--Sanchez-Cesc

but expect that to take another form if we settle into the match and do our thing, a 3-4-3, with Messi dropping deeper and Alves pushing up.

For Real I see:

-----------------Iker-------------------
-Coentrao-Ramos-Pepe-Marcelo
-----------------Lass-----------------
--------Sahin--------Alonso--------
--Ozil-------Benzema---C.Ronaldo

or even (if mou has faith in Varane)

--------------------Iker--------------------
-Coentrao--Ramos--Varane--Marcelo
----------------------Pepe---------------
------Lass-------------------Xabi-------
--Ozil---------Benzema------C.Ronaldo

I prefer the option where Pepe isn't in the midfield shredding our plays..and getting away with murder :p

Swap Xabi for Pepe (because thats the way it was when Pepe was in mid last time), Di Maria on the wing instead of Ozil and probably another defensive player in the back line and thats more like what would happen if Madrid went with that kind of gameplan imo.

I dont think that will be it though, more likely, Alonso protected by Lass and Khedira, 3 forwards, likely Benz, Cristiano and Di Maria. Back 4, take your pick.

If Valdes was playing, Barca would be clear favourites.

So we do the debate again about Madrid...do they stick with the sort of lineup thats led them to the top of the table...or change their plan completely just for Barca?

Is Xabi Alonso untouchable?

If they go with option B, I dont see why Alonso's place should be guaranteed...They've tried changing around everyone else - why not him?

The Franchise wrote:Swap Xabi for Pepe (because thats the way it was when Pepe was in mid last time), Di Maria on the wing instead of Ozil and probably another defensive player in the back line and thats more like what would happen if Madrid went with that kind of gameplan imo.

I dont think that will be it though, more likely, Alonso protected by Lass and Khedira, 3 forwards, likely Benz, Cristiano and Di Maria. Back 4, take your pick.

Madrid don't have many picks in the backline. Arbeloa is suspended. It's all to either Lass or Coentraro in the RB spot, adn the other takes the MF spot, likely to be Lass given Alonso will need an energy player to help fight of our mid..

Khedira picked up an ankle injury midweek, and I think DM is still out.

Well, we know whats gonna happen. They cant beat em. You ve seen it people

bhends wrote:So we do the debate again about Madrid...do they stick with the sort of lineup thats led them to the top of the table...or change their plan completely just for Barca?

Is Xabi Alonso untouchable?

If they go with option B, I dont see why Alonso's place should be guaranteed...They've tried changing around everyone else - why not him?

They have to change, no question about that now.

Alonso is untouchable, because even if they go defensive in the midfield with 3 men, if none of them are Alonso then they will struggle even more then ever to lauch and counter attack.

Yeah, but how many counter attacks have Madrid actually scored off against Barca in their recent history??

I can't think of one off the top of my head - Of course theoretically what you said is 100% accurate...but what we've seen from the real results indicates that the theory isnt translating into the expected outcome...

But Madrid HAVE had success scoring from corners and by winning the ball back in dangerous positions through pressing..Benzemas goal (corner) CR7s goal (corner? or cross following a corner I cant remember) CR7s goal (pressing) Benzemas goal (pressing)

Swapping Xabi Alonso for a more defensive or energetic player increases the likelihood of scoring in both of those manners without making them exposed defensively...

Marca made a poll asking fans what kind of gameplan/tactics they'd like to see Mou deploy vs. Barça.

Interestingly enough, the best voted option was to place Pepe alongside Xabi in the middle of the park (51.9%), then using a triple pivot consisting of Xabi, Pepe and Coentrao with 24.4% of the votes.

That may show how their DMs are rated

I've been looking at the chart of the competition, Athletic stand a serious chance to win it. They need to beat Mallorca to get to semis, which is definitely possible, and then the winner of Espanyol-Mirandes, the later play in 3rd division so Espanyol are obvious favorites. Should they get to the final, they will play against one of R. Madrid, Barca, Valencia and Levante. Athletic have yet to play against R. Madrid, but they tied Barca 2-2 in home turf and tied Valencia 1-1 at the Mestalla. They certainly have the discipline to repeat that and even win.

This doesn't really bode well for Madrid either, who will see Athletic in 10 days.

We have the depth to deal with it

Bilbao game will be a tough match especially since its sandwiched between 2 clasicos. Don't brush them off so easily lol. I think its even more important than the clasico to maintain our league position but who am I kiddin

Why should Real Madrid have to rely on counter-attacks? Hopefully we keep the ball instead of hoofing it away like the last Clasico.

Barcelona are definitely favorites for this match and will probably beat us, nevertheless we should be looking to improve our performance from the last time.

For Ronaldo this is do or die vs barca, if he chokes in these 2 matches I am quite sure Mourinho won't play him in the next league Clasico or in the possible CL tie. I hope and would like to think that Ronaldo will play much better in these matches than the previous Clasicos, time will tell.

Our backline will definitely have problems against Barcelona and I can see them scoring 2 to 3 goals against us which is a very optimistic prediction. There is not much we can do except try to outscore Barcelona, and to achieve this, we need to be very lethal in the finishing department which we weren't in the last Clasico.

As a sidenote I believe Nuri Sahin would be the key for our midfield, but since he hasn't played a lot I doubt he will start in any of the Clasicos this season.

of course we have to rely on counter attacks.. we are not going to keep 50 percent possession against them.. why not sit back and counter, at least we ll still be playing after 60 minutes unlike the league match

We usually can't counter becouse Xabi isn't launching them

Like bhends said our past goals have come from pressing and getting a corner

Whatever happens don't play Raul Albiol Mou... just don't

ohh crap

im gonna sue the spanish fa for the traffic issues we get here because of the classicos

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Only 2 years ago the winner was a non-Barca/Madrid team. Madrid before last year had not won the trophy for something like 18 years, Raul has never won it in his life. It's entirely possible that the winner of the cup will be neither.

Well, luckily he won the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) in his first year with Schalke.