Real Madrid to land the first Clasico blow

 

 

There is no club game more appetising than El Clasico. The fourth of the season arrives with this Copa del Rey semi-final first leg...

 

 

 

Real Madrid v Barcelona, Wednesday 20:00, Sky Sports 3, Match Odds: Real Madrid 3.3, Barcelona 2.2, The Draw 3.9

 

Jose Mourinho may have thrown the towel in on Real Madrid's La Liga defence but at least he still has the opportunity to get one over his club's fiercest rivals in the Copa del Rey.

 

As always though, the overriding attention will focus on another cosmic collision between the world's top two footballing talents.

 

Witnessing Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi pitting wits on the very same pitch is simply special, especially when they've just notched three and four goals in their weekend matches respectively.

 

All three meetings between the sides this season - two legs of the Spanish Super Cup and the La Liga meeting - have seen both players' names on either side of the scoresheet.

 

In fact, the La Liga Clasico which finished 2-2 at the Camp Nou in October simply became a straight shootout between the mega-star pairing, as they helped themselves to a brace apiece.

 

Although Real won the Super Cup on away goals, the 6-6 aggregate tie over three meetings this season shows just how close these encounters have been of late.

 

With only one of the last ten Clasicos being decided by more than one goal, it could well come down to a moment of magic from one of the usual suspects.

 

Home advantage doesn't seem to matter hugely in these titanic struggles either though, in light of Los Blancos' failed title defence, there may be an extra hunger from Mourinho's men to win this trophy.

 

Next Goal

 

One feature of these recent heavyweight bouts has been Real's ability to land the first telling blow. They have now taken the lead in each of the last four Clasicos, pouncing within 23 minutes in three of those. You have to go back 15 games to find the last time that the capital club were losing a match at half-time.

 

Over/Under 3.5 goals

 

With the exception of the tense 2010/11 Copa del Rey final decided in extra time, the last time El Clasico returned a stalemate was way back in 2002. Thankfully, the pressure of succeeding hasn't got in the way of goalscoring in recent times, with every one of the last nine Clasicos breaking the 2.5 mark and six of the last nine turning up over 3.5, including two of this season's three clashes.

 

Best Bet: Back Real Madrid to score the first goal @ 2.22

Other Recommended Bet: Back Over 3.5 goals @ 2.28

 

Bet HERE

 

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