Just four days after Real Madrid took Barcelona apart at the Camp Nou to reach the Copa del Rey Final, the two sides will meet again for their final league match of the season.
If the first thing you thought after Tuesday's final whistle at the Camp Nou was, we really don't need to do that again anytime soon, we have some bad news for you. We're doing it again.
"It" of course is another El Clasico match-up between Real Madrid and Barcelona just four days after Madrid's 3-1 victory over Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semifinals. This meeting is significantly less important considering Barca is still 16 points ahead of Madrid in the La Liga table with only 13 games left to play (including this weekend).
More importantly for Real Madrid is a trip to Old Trafford for their Champions League second leg tie against Manchester United this coming Tuesday.
Jose Mourinho would be mad to risk any key players for this match. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos and others should and probably will be either on the bench or completely out of the side.
Barcelona on the other hand will probably use several regulars for a couple reason. First, their Champions League second leg is not until March 12th. Second, Jordi Roura doesn't seem to grasp squad rotation. Since Tito Vilanova was forced into treatment after having a second tumor removed from his throat in December, Barca have only won five times in 11 matches. During that stretch we've seen Roura be overly reliant on certain players leading to this Barcelona team looking tired.
The only new injury news for either team at this point is the news that Lionel Messi's status is in doubt for this weekend after he missed training on Wednesday with a fever.
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