Barca draws Real Madrid in Copa semifinals

[soul24rage]

I half expect us to 'throw' the Atletico game. I think most of the leaders in the locker room don't rate our changes in the Liga anyway, Ramos did a motivational speech in training where he said something along the lines "we have good chance in the cups". So out of those three I expect us to try and do something against Atleti, scrape a 1-0 on a random Bale header, but otherwise they won't be going all guns blazing. Benzema is in good nick so if he puts 1 or 2 in there, they'll play for a narrow win/draw. We will probably prioritise Vinicius for the cup games as worse fullbacks play in those and let Asensio do something off the LW against Atleti.

Possibly

Even a tie would be greatly appreciated

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Now I wish we lost in Copa vs Seville. Brutal brutal brutal..

 

[JPM85]

CdR semi-final should be our prime-11 starting, just for the sake of eliminating RM and having a good change of the cup. I expect the team to be in such a shape to be able to eliminate Lyon on the away game already. La Liga we are good and comfortable in the lead and can still have a mis-step somewhere the line.

Just rest the players against Valladolid, Sevilla & Rayo because we can easily grap 6 points minimal of these teams.
I expect Atletico to drop points somewhere the line as well.
Most important will be to keep resting and rotating players on the matches against Betis, Espanyol & Heusca to get full attention on the CL quarter and semi final matches.

Valverde tactics should be:
February: Eliminate Real in Copa, full out on Lyon away and rest against Valladolid & Rayo full swing
March/April: Make sure we put the focus on CL and rest the team against Betis, Espanyol & Heusca

If so, we will grap at least a domestic double again, with good chances on CL semi-final

 

[JPM85]

Now I wish we lost in Copa vs Seville. Brutal brutal brutal..

Why?, we are Barca and should aim for all cups every season

 

[wojtanowskyFCB]

Schedule means, we absolutely have to put maximum effort into first matches with Lyon and Real, to set up second match.

To be honest i'm happy we drew Real... they've been starting to heat up a little bit. Convincing victory would be block of ice right onto their heads, and would fray their morals before matches with Ajax... i still believe in De Jong and rest to surprise everybody, and eliminate Madrid

 

[Devils]

lol this Real Madrid side is on its last legs. Nobody should fear them.

Defensively they are shambles. All of our attackers are on good form, and will terrorize them.

 

[El Gato]

lol this Real Madrid side is on its last legs. Nobody should fear them.

Defensively they are shambles. All of our attackers are on good form, and will terrorize them.

 

[Flavius]

Well, at least will be fun for us, the supporters. 2 Months full of entertainment!

Just hope we eliminate both Lyon and Real, Liga is still on a long run.

 

[Devils]

CSKA, Sociedad, Leganes and Villareal weren't that long ago!

We'll see.

 

[ronniecro]

good,better play them in two legs than in final in my opinion

 

[Messi983]

Not worried about our upcoming schedule.

Rotate a bit against Valencia then go with the best lineup vs RM and in Bilbao. There are 4 days between those games and then a full week of rest with a home game against Valladolid before a trip to Lyon. Then again 5 days before we go to Pizjuan.

Hopefully we can get a good advantage in first game of Copa but most important is not to concede.

 

[Jakabor]

I fancy Vinicius against any or all of Roberto, Semedo, Pique, Rakitić and Busquets. He has all the tools to make them suffer. If Valverde is smart, he sticks Vidal 1 to 1 against him and hopes he doesn't give stupid fouls away.

Holy moly. People weren't kidding when they say Madrid overhype their young players. Vinicius has done next to nothing to warrant such respect on the pitch? Putting a player on him? Are you kidding me? That's reserved for players like Messi. Vinicius.. LMAO.

If any young player should demand extra attention it's Dembele, but even he hasn't done enough.

Nelson will be just fine vs whoever that plays in that side of the pitch.

 

[mc_lovin]

Really interested to see Vinicius play... didnt watch an awful lot of Madrid games this season since they are so far off. The last game I saw of him he looked pretty raw.

 

[El Gato]

Holy moly. People weren't kidding when they say Madrid overhype their young players. Vinicius has done next to nothing to warrant such respect on the pitch? Putting a player on him? Are you kidding me? That's reserved for players like Messi. Vinicius.. LMAO.

If any young player should demand extra attention it's Dembele, but even he hasn't done enough.

Nelson will be just fine vs whoever that plays in that side of the pitch.

I fail to see your point. How's this hyping anybody? How's Semedo meant to be 'just fine' when he's proved for 2 years he can be a liability? Pointing out that Vinicius is fearless and his stuff worked against any team isn't saying it'll automatically work against Barcelona, though it DOES mean they can't ignore him just because he's young.

Dembele for sure will need taking care of, but he's likely to play on the left and Carvajal should be OK, he's been solid this year.

 

[Arizona Scott]

would be beautiful if madrid get knocked out of both competitions in front of their own fans in the span of 3 days

Not only this, but we can keep Madrid out a the supercup next year. Set them up for a big fat ZERO of a year.

Personally I want more energy/better lineup in these two Copa Classicos than the surrounding league affairs. We have a 5 point gap on Atleti, get them at home, and the league is going to take their toll on them. Plus they have Juv twice and they take their toll win or lose (I think Atleti will advance but it will be a war), way different than Lyon or Ajax.

Our mistake last year was getting too tense about the league, Atleti will still drop some point in league we only have to be equal to them at this point. And it is tougher for them because they don't have the scoring potential, bound to be some 0-0, 1-1, affairs. Everything has to go right for Barca to drop points, it Atleti's case--they just have to have one of those days they can't find a way to score.

lol we're going to destroy these bums ffs.

That's the thing too. Just bomb real 4-0 at the Camp Nou and Lyon 5-1 at their place and no sweat.