Real Madrid and Barcelona set to collide for a place in the Copa del Rey final

Vinicius’ absence from the FIFPro World XI for 2022 has only added to the feeling that the man who scored the goal in last summer’s Champions League final is still not being recognized as he should be. And he’ll be determined to take the frustration out on him about it, in Barcelona tonight.

According to his coach Carlo Ancelotti, the Brazilian is the most decisive player in the world right now. But he was not listed in the top six forwards with Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Neymar, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski all still ahead of him.

Benzema was also upset that he had lost the top individual award to Messi. He posted on Instagram the trophies won from him in 2022 drawing attention to 63 goals scored and 21 assists.

Madrid as a club felt offended and decided not to send an official match to the gala. Their gala arrives tonight at the Santiago Bernabéu when they hope to feast on the wounded animal that is Barcelona.

Xavi’s team have been beaten twice in four days by Manchester United and Almería and are missing their three most important strikers, Robert Lewandowski, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele.

Vinicius will be determined to show how good he is tonight against Barcelona

Karim Benzema will want to show that he deserves to be seen as the best player in the world

Madrid’s plan is to finish this Spanish Cup semifinal tonight in a double game; Barcelona wants to get out of the first 90 minutes of the tie alive because they know that in a month’s time Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Robert Lewandowski should be back for the second leg and they will have the opportunity to turn around in their own stadium.

Barcelona have kept 17 clean sheets in the league this season, conceding just eight goals in 23 games; another perfect defensive performance tonight would be invaluable and much of that plan falls on the shoulders of Ronald Araujo. The Uruguayan central defender will switch to right back to mark Vinicius and the game can be won or lost in that duel.

In the three games to date that Araujo has moved to neutralize Vinicius the overall score is 1-8 in favor of Barcelona. That balance includes the 0-1 friendly in the summer in Las Vegas, plus the 0-4 last season at the Bernabéu and the final of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Real Madrid won the first La Liga clásico of the season last year, but Araujo was injured and Sergio Roberto suffered instead.

Ter Stegen’s counterpart, Thibaut Courtois, has not enjoyed the last Clásicos. He has conceded 18 goals in 10 games against Barcelona and seven in his last two games. But Ferran Torres and Raphinha will lead Barcelona’s attack tonight and the drop in threat level is obvious.

As expected, Carlo Ancelotti played down the importance of the game beyond being for a place in the Cup final. “The league and the cup are different competitions,” Ancelotti said yesterday.

He also caused laughter in the press room when he said he didn’t know what the ‘cagometer’ was. The best translation into English would be ‘squeaky-bum-time scale’ and the theory is that the needle will be out of play if Madrid win well tonight.

There has been talk in recent days about the credit Xavi has at the bank after winning his first trophy in January. The verdict is that it would evaporate if Madrid knocked Barcelona out of the cup and closed the gap in La Liga, currently at seven points.

Panic could ensue if Xavi’s Barcelona lose their third straight match against their staunchest rival

No one has ever lost a seven-point lead at the top at this point in the season, but Real Madrid could close the gap to four in the second clásico of the season and with a stronger and more in-form team that has managed to hold its own. away from injuries that could emerge as favorites before the game.

The psychological blow dealt by a huge first leg win for Madrid therefore cannot be underestimated. It is not surprising that Xavi tried to lower the bar on expectations yesterday by telling reporters: ‘We are two games from the final, but they are the favourites. If I think about where we came from, I get euphoric.’

It was a call for perspective, of which there will not be on Friday morning in Barcelona if the team loses a lot.

Three straight losses is bad enough, but the third against Real Madrid, which reinforces his belief that they can catch Barcelona in the league and leave them without any of the serious trophies at the end of the season, would ring all sorts of alarm bells in the Camp Nou.