BARCELONA
Cheap Juventus Soccer Jerseys , Spain (AP) — Leaning forward in his winter coat, Lionel Messi fidgeted with an empty water bottle as he watched his Barcelona teammates trailing their fiercest rivals.But minutes before he decided to test his tender right leg, the chants at Camp Nou for “Messi! Messi!” turned into cheers as a little-used teammate scored an equalizer against Real Madrid.Malcom’s second-half goal left their Copa del Rey semifinal poised 1-1 after the first leg, with Madrid going home with a slight away-goal edge for the return game later this month.“The tie is wide open, there is no clear favorite,” said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. “Given the caliber of the two sides, there is still a lot to be said.”Having picked up a right leg injury after scoring twice in a 2-2 draw with Valencia in league on Saturday, Messi stayed on the bench until the 64th minute.The Argentine then came on and didn’t show any signs of an injury when he plucked the ball from Casemiro’s boot, raced forward and was fouled by a scrum of Madrid’s defenders near the area. He stayed on the turf to gather himself, before he smashed his free kick into the wall.But other than an opening goal by Madrid forward Lucas Vazquez and Malcom’s equalizer
Cheap Soccer Uniforms , this “clasico” was more of a clunker.It was the first of three matches between Spain’s most successful clubs in less than a month. The second leg of the semifinal in Madrid is on Feb. 27, just before their Spanish league game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on March 3.“Today he felt fine, but we thought it would be better that he waited until the second half,” Valverde said about Messi. “When he went out he had the chance to be decisive. Each time he touched the ball we could see the reaction he provoked in our rivals.”In October, Messi missed Barcelona’s 5-1 rout of Madrid in the league, a stinging loss that sealed the fate of former coach Julen Lopetegui.This time out, Madrid made sure to set a strong tone from the opening, when it maintained possession long enough to get in front.The highlight duel was between Barcelona right back Nelson Semedo, who got the most of Madrid youngest Vinicius Junior with more than one skillfully dribble.But the 18-year-old Vinicius did provide the key pass to the visitors’ goal in the sixth minute when he spotted Karim Benzema at the far post defended by the under-sized Jordi Alba. Benzema won the ball after Alba failed to reel it in, and the Madrid striker sent a low pass across the goalmouth where Vazquez slipped around Clement Lenglet to redirect it home.“I am not surprised (by Vinicius) because I have known him since he arrived here
Cheap Liverpool Soccer Jerseys ,” said Madrid coach Santiago Solari, who coached Vinicius Junior at Madrid’s B-team before he started featuring him after he replaced Lopetegui. “(But) that an 18-year-old kid plays like this is surprising because it doesn’t happen often.”As Madrid sat back to protect the advantage, Barcelona began to find holes in its defense. Ivan Rakitic headed Malcom’s free kick off the crossbar in the 32nd, and Suarez drew a one-handed save from goalkeeper Keylor Navas after Malcom bungled his way through three defenders before setting him up on the edge of the box.Malcom pulled the hosts level in the 58th when he curled a left-foot strike from an angle into the net with Navas off his line.Lenglet’s long pass to Alba streaking into space forced Navas off his line to strip the ball, but it fell to Suarez who hit the post before Malcom gathered the rebound in and finished it off.It was the 21-year-old’s third goal since joining Barcelona in the offseason from Bordeaux. There was a 50 percent chance of it happening, and once Valencia and Real Betis had been drawn out of the Copa del Rey hat, it meant that, yes, we were going to see a two-legged El Clasico semi-final.Moreover, the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu precedes a league match between the two teams at the same venue just 72 hours later.It’s the first time in Barcelona’s history that they will have played two consecutive games at the Bernabeu
Cheap Manchester City Soccer Shirts , and given their recent record there, the Blaugrana will be entirely confident of continuing their run of victories.Real Madrid, meanwhile, will believe that Barca have little to no chance of remaining unbeaten against them in that mini-series of matches.Barcelona have two incentives to win the tie – and both will be motivational for the dressing room.Knocking their fiercest rivals out of the cup and then beating them in the league would effectively end their season. It would also give Barca the chance to win a historic fifth Spanish cup in a row.Whilst it’s true that Real will probably still be in the Champions League, they don’t look strong enough to win it, so at this stage the Copa del Rey represents their best chance of silverware.At the time of writing Los Blancos are 10 points behind leaders Barca, and if they go toe to toe until March 2 and the Blaugrana then win again, a 13-point gap at that stage of the season is insurmountable.What’s imperative is that Ernesto Valverde plays his strongest XI in the home leg at the Camp Nou this coming Wednesday.The Basque coach simply cannot risk leaving players out like he did against Levante and Sevilla, and then hope for a turnaround in the return leg.Lightning won’t strike three times.Real are on an upturn form wise, and so may present stiffer opposition than that which Barca faced in Julen Lopetegui’s final game
Cheap Manchester United Soccer Jerseys , the 5-1 Clasico from earlier in the season.The hosts should still have too much for their opponents from the Spanish capital, but the question is whether Real can score that all-important away goal or two, to give them something to cling onto for the second leg.Karim Benzema has been amongst the goals and looks to be their chief attacking threat, whilst a leaky Real defence will have to contend with Messi, Suarez, Dembele and Coutinho.If the win against Sevilla was a barometer, the Catalans really want to have the chance to make some more history in the Benito Villamarin, and woe betide Los Blancos if the Blaugrana are in the mood.
