Spanish Cup semi-finals, first leg.

Different dynamics here.

Real Madrid is in a very good moment and form. They gained a lot of confidence in the 2-5 achieved at Anfield against Liverpool, followed by a disappointing draw against Atletico Madrid (1:1) in La Liga. There they made a poor performance, we could say that even a lazy game (very typical for Real Madrid in La Liga sometimes), but also had to deal with a problem that they won’t have today: a defensive rival.

Barcelona will play with the aim of controlling the game and possession, something which is perfect for Real Madrid, a team who struggles against defensive teams when they need to make fast and very effective football. If they play with spaces, against a team who feels that is at the same level (like Liverpool), is where they feel better and make better performances.

Although Benzema is in bad form, he is expected to be in the lineup along with Vinicius and Valverde, with a good lineup where only Alaba will be an important missing, but well replaced by Nacho.

On the other hand, Barcelona is in the worst moment of the season. They are totally focused in La Liga, and now they dont have much more options: were kicked off the Europa League by Manchester United, and also lost against Almeria at the weekend in La Liga in a game where they had the chance to make the difference with Madrid almost definitive, with 10 points. Now with the defeat they are just 7 points above with a ‘Clasico’ coming soon (in 3 weeks) . Almeria was a team who played them with courage, offensive and attacking (something similar to Madrid, but with much less quality).

In those two games (Manchester United and Almeria) Barcelona missed a lot two key players: Demebele and Pedri. Their football was very slow and predictable, and the absence of Pedri was very notable and important for the team to put more velocity, while Demebele was important to create dangerous actions. Furthermore, for this match they will also miss their best scorer (and topscorer this season) - Lewandowski. Although he wasn’t in the best form lately, is undoubtedly one of the best strikers and scorers in Europe and always a serious danger in the area.

Therefore, coach Xavi will be forced to improvise something in the lineup. Pedri and Lewandowski are two key players in the team without any replacement, and probably will try with De Jong and Ferran, two players who are very far from the level that the spanish midfielder and the polish striker have.

Barcelona’s absences are much more important. Madrid is already accustomed to playing without Alaba, Mendy and Rodrygo, because they have good replacements for them. But Barcelona showed that without Pedri and Dembele they struggled a lot to make a good football and beat rivals, and for today will be added also Lewandowski.

The home factor will be important for Madrid to achieve advantage in this semi finals, added to the fact that they are also in much better form and with confidence after their amazing performance in Anfield. Surely they will want to dominate and hurt Barcelona who is in a delicate moment due to their bad form and performances, their defeat against Manchester United and the unexpected defeat against Almeria.

Furthermore Madrid will be looking for revenge after the 1:3 defeat in the Supercup in January.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

西班牙杯半决赛，首回合。

这里有不同的动态。

皇马现在的状态非常好。他们在安菲尔德2-5战胜利物浦的比赛中获得了很多信心，随后在西甲联赛中以1:1的比分令人失望地战平了马德里竞技。在那里，他们表现不佳，我们可以说，甚至是一场懒惰的比赛(这在西甲联赛中非常典型)，但也不得不处理一个他们今天不会遇到的问题:一个防守对手。

巴萨将以控制比赛和控球为目标，这对皇马来说是完美的，当他们需要快速有效的足球时，他们会与防守球队斗争。如果他们在比赛中利用空间，面对一支与自己处于同一水平的球队(比如利物浦)，他们会感觉更好，表现更好。

虽然本泽马状态不佳，但他有望与维尼修斯和巴尔韦德一起出现在阵容中，在一个不错的阵容中，只有阿拉巴会缺席，但纳乔会很好地取代他。

另一方面，巴萨正处于本赛季最糟糕的时刻。他们完全专注于西甲，现在他们没有更多的选择:被曼联踢出了欧联杯，周末在西甲输给了阿尔梅里亚，在这场比赛中他们有机会与马德里几乎确定的比赛中取得10分。现在由于这场失利，他们仅领先7分，而“德比”即将到来(三周后)。阿尔梅里亚是一支充满勇气、进攻和进攻的球队(有点像马德里，但质量要差得多)。

在那两场比赛中(曼联和阿尔梅里亚)，巴塞罗那失去了两个关键球员:德梅贝莱和佩德里。他们的足球非常缓慢和可预测，佩德里的缺席对球队提高速度非常重要，而德梅贝莱则是创造危险动作的重要人物。此外，本场比赛他们还将错过他们的最佳射手(本赛季最佳射手)莱万多夫斯基。虽然他最近状态不佳，但毫无疑问他是欧洲最好的前锋和得分手之一，在禁区内总是一个严重的威胁。

因此，哈维教练将不得不在阵容中做一些即兴的调整。佩德里和莱万多夫斯基是球队的两名关键球员，没有人可以替代他们，德容和费兰可能会尝试，这两名球员的水平远远比不上西班牙中场和波兰前锋。

巴萨的缺席更为重要。皇马已经习惯了没有阿拉巴、门迪和罗德里戈的比赛，因为他们有很好的替代者。但是巴萨证明了没有佩德里和登贝莱，他们很难踢出精彩的足球并击败对手，今天还将增加莱万多夫斯基。

主场因素对马德里在半决赛中取得优势很重要，事实上，他们在安菲尔德的出色表现后，状态也更好了，信心也更足了。当然，他们想要统治并伤害巴塞罗那，因为他们糟糕的状态和表现，他们输给曼联，意外输给阿尔梅里亚，巴萨正处于微妙的时刻。

此外，马德里将在一月份的超级杯1:3失利后寻求复仇。