Real Madrid will welcome an injury-stricken Barcelona side to the Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday for the 102nd El Clasico and first leg of their tantalising Copa del Rey semi-final tie.
The pair of LaLiga giants will put their league campaigns aside to battle it out for the third time already this season, having met in the Spanish Super Cup final two months ago. Enacting revenge after losing the first LaLiga meeting to Real Madrid 3-1 in October, a rejuvenated Barcelona ran out 3-1 winners in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, marking Xavi Hernandez's first trophy since becoming Barca manager.
Despite boasting a seven-point lead over their arch enemies in the LaLiga title race, it hasn't been plain sailing for Xavi and co since January's triumph. The Blaugrana have been knocked out of the Europa League after a dramatic 2-1 defeat away to Manchester United, while Real have grown in confidence and smashed Liverpool 5-2 at Anfield last Tuesday, scoring five goals without reply.
Carlo Ancelotti's men did, however, only manage a 1-1 draw on the road against bitter rivals Atletico in a fiery Madrid derby on Saturday night. That gave Barcelona the opportunity to extend their lead at the top 24 hours later, but they embarrassingly lost 1-0 away to second-bottom team Almeria.
The Blaugrana's failure to go 10 points clear wasn't the only damning thing that came out of Almeria's shock victory either, as star striker Robert Lewandowski suffered a hamstring strain which has ruled him out of this latest edition of El Clasico. The Polish marksman, 34, joins Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati on the sidelines, significantly depleting Xavi's attacking options.
As for Ancelotti, the Italian coach also has injury issues of his own to contend with. David Alaba, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo are all set to miss out, but the trio each hope to make a full recovery by the time these two heavyweights of world football meet again at the Camp Nou on March 19 for a potential title-decider.
Barcelona will also host the second leg of this tie on Wednesday, April 5, with the final taking play on Saturday, May 6. In the other semi-final, Osasuna play Athletic Bilbao.
Have your say! Who'll go through - Real Madrid or Barcelona? Join the debate in the comments section.
Real Madrid will face Barcelona on Thursday, March 2 for a Copa del Rey semi-final first leg.
Kick-off at the Santiago Bernabeu is 8pm GMT (9pm local time).
The match kicks off at 8pm UK time (9pm local time) and will be streamed on BT Sport. UK fans will be able to buy a BT Sport Pass to watch the game and that will also give access for a month of fixtures including Europa League and Champions League. The pass will also give access to Manchester City vs Newcastle in the early Premier League game on Saturday.
Latest odds* from Betfred:
*odds subject to change
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