The La Liga title race will temporarily be halted as El Clasico rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona renew their rivalry in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight. The Los Blancos defeated their city rivals Atletico Madrid 3-1 to make it passed the last eight knockout stages while Barcelona needed only one goal against Real Sociedad to reach at this stage of the competition. Lowly ranked Cacereno and Villarreal both fell to the superiority of Real Madrid before the Spanish giants were tested in the quarter-finals by Atletico Madrid where Alvaro Morata gave them a hard time but Rodrygo scored in the dying minutes of the game forcing extra time where Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior stepped up for the team to ensure that the Los Blancos navigated through to the semi-finals.

Barcelona suffered a shock defeat to Almeria and this can give a glimmer of hope to Madrid whose five-game winning run in all tournaments was brought to an end on Saturday evening and a first Copa del Rey semi-final triumph might just be lying in wait if they can get the job done against current La Liga top of the table Barcelona in both their home and away fixture. The last time they were at this stage of the competition was during the 2018-19 campaign where they drew 1-1 to Barcelona in the first leg before bowing down to the Catalan giants' supremacy in a 3-0 defeat in their return fixture. They might as well be concerned going into tonight's El Clasico match as form and fitness seem to be working against them of late.

The Catalan giants now need glory in the Spanish top flight more than ever after their avenue to success in the UEFA Europa League was brought to an abrupt end by Manchester United who trumped them to reach the round of 16 knockout stages of the UEL. Barcelona are, however, enjoying a healthy seven points advantage over their closest rivals in the La Liga title race which gives them room to focus on other silverware such as the Copa del Rey. 

Tonight's match will mark the 252nd competitive meeting between Barcelona and Real Madrid in which the former won with a scoreline of 3-1 in the Supercopa de Espana final but the latter had earlier prevailed with the same scoreline back in October at the Santiago Bernabeu during their first leg La Liga meeting. The odds are staked heavily in favour of Real Madrid to glean a first-leg home advantage because one thing football punters are sure of is that Barcelona in their current form will be victorious in the return fixture at Camp Nou as they have proven to play best amidst wild ululations and cheers from their supporters. 

(Image: Khel Now)