We are facing a key match to assess the season for Barça and also that of Real Madrid. And it is that the Camp Nou will decide tonight who of the two greats accesses the final of the Cup. For Barça it would be closer to the double. For Madrid, some calm in a season that is being super irregular. These are my 5 tactical keys for this great game:
The first of the keys goes through the composition of the team. In the first instance who will Christensen replace. Between Marcos Alonso and EricGarcia, the former is the one who seems to have the most options. But the main doubt is in the engine room. It is certain that Barça will return to the four pure midfielders but we will see what the exact distribution is. With De Jong not fit to play, Sergi Roberto and Kessié will enter. A good option would be for the youth player to be the one to play in the lower part of the square to help Busquets with positional tasks and for Kessié to play up top, to take advantage of his arrival. But it must not be ruled out, far from it, that the placement was the other way around. Nor should it be ruled out that Eric Garcia could repeat as a pivot helping Busquets and that Sergi Roberto would occupy the right corner of the square.
With the result against the first leg, it is more than likely that Real Madrid will be very active (and perhaps with some unexpected variation in the eleven). Or what is the same, showing a high pressure very similar to the league match and before which Barça had many difficulties to come out. In fact, he did not finish surpassing it at any time during the match. But Barça will have a very powerful argument to be able to go out that they did not have that day: the presence of Robert Lewandowski. And it will be decisive for the Barça team to find him in the short game blocking moments. The Barça attacker is simply magnificent, keeping the ball and making any direct midfield movement good. Not only because of the goal, but because of his ability to unload and his ability to give continuity to the game, it can be differential again.
The second line of Madrid has a hard time and they are not persistent in defensive coverage. Especially with the remote ones. Reason why all the entrances of the Barcelona interiors can be an important offensive weapon. This is precisely how Kessié's goal came about in the last victory at the Bernabéu. Barça have to come from behind to surprise in the area and finish.
As always, another of the great threats for Real Madrid will be the transitions. Even more so with the confidence and tone that the match against Valladolid will have given both Benzema and Rodrygo. It is for this reason that it will be very important for Barça to quickly launch quick pressure after losing the ball. It has to be almost a football obsession to recover or cut before the opponent's third pass. Something that the Barça team has done wonderfully in the precedents of this season and something in which they have to be at a high level again. Gavi in the left sector and Raphinha in the right have to be bulwarks for this.
In a straight game and with, a priori, a lot of equality in everything, the decisions of the Barça coach are going to be decisive. In fact, in the last game at the Camp Nou and when Madrid put the Barça team on the ropes, Xavi decided to break the pattern of the four midfielders and go to a pure 4-3-3 with the entries of Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres , and thus reaches 2-1. The changes and tactical variations that the Barça coach can put into practice can once again have enormous weight in the game.
