Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez insisted Wednesday Real Madrid are favourites to progress from their Clasico Copa del Rey semi-final tie.
The Catalans face Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday within the first leg, with out injured trio Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Robert Lewandowski.
Barcelona have a seven level benefit on Madrid in La Liga, however have suffered two consecutive defeats — elimination by Manchester United within the Europa League after which a stumble in opposition to minnows Almeria.
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“It’s a powerful Madrid, a Madrid which have gained trophies lately, we’re a workforce within the means of development,” Xavi told a news conference.
“Madrid are competing in Europe, they thrashed Liverpool at their ground, they are favourites, to be honest.
“We have the personality and players to hurt them too, we’ve shown it — for me it’s quite an even tie.”
Barcelona beat reigning La Liga and European champions Real Madrid within the Spanish Super Cup ultimate in January, lifting their first trophy since Xavi took over in November 2021.
Despite their high quality begin to 2023, Barca suffered one other European exit and missed the possibility to maneuver 10 factors away from Madrid in La Liga after Almeria beat them for the primary time ever on Sunday.
Without injured duo Pedri and Dembele, joined by Lewandowski who suffered a hamstring pressure at the weekend, Xavi stated his workforce needed to be courageous.
“We should be extra of a workforce than ever, as a lot in defence as in assault, or strategically,” said the coach.
“These games are decided by small details, we have to be very brave, to have personality and lose the ball as little as possible, because they can hurt you with Vinicius, (Fede) Valverde, Rodrygo, (Karim) Benzema.
“It’s a game to show our model of play, as we did in the Super Cup.”
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Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti stated his workforce wouldn’t make the identical errors as they did in that 3-1 defeat in Saudi Arabia.
“In the Super Cup recreation we lacked dedication, power, we made particular person errors,” Ancelotti told reporters.
“Repeating these errors will affect us, but I don’t think we will repeat them.
“It’s a very important game, we are very close to winning a competition that is very important for us.”
In earlier Clasicos, Barcelona have deployed Ronald Araujo at right-back to attempt to nullify the specter of Madrid winger Vinicius Junior.
Ancelotti stated his workforce was not over-dependent on the Brazilian.
“It’s a optimistic factor, he’s among the best gamers on the planet,” added the coach.
“He decides games in our favour many times, having a dependence on him is quite normal, because at this moment, he’s one of the best players in football.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed)
