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The third iteration of El Clasico in 2023 is set to take place on Wednesday night as Barcelona host Real Madrid in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final tie. The Catalans hold a slender 1-0 aggregate advantage heading into the fixture, thanks to Eder Militao’s own goal in the first leg at the beginning of March.
Barcelona claimed a dramatic 2-1 triumph on home soil in their most recent meeting, all but ending Real Madrid’s hopes of winning the La Liga title race, thanks to Franck Kessie’s late winner. Xavi’s side currently lead the table by 12 points, and both teams head into Wednesday’s second leg off the back of emphatic league victories, with Barcelona also winning the Supercopa de Espana final in January.
The game will take place at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, with a kick-off time of 20:00 BST / 15:00 EST / 12:00 PST. The referee for the match will be Juan Martínez Munuera, while Jose Luis González González will be the VAR.
For viewers in the UK, the game will be available to watch on BT Sport 1, while viewers in the US can catch the game on ESPN+. Unfortunately, there is no live stream or TV channel available for viewers in Canada.
Barcelona will likely be without both Pedri and Frenkie de Jong in midfield, with Franck Kessie or Sergi Roberto expected to join Sergio Busquets and Gavi in the middle of the park. Ansu Fati could retain his place down the left, while Raphinha is set to return to the squad after serving his suspension. Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen remain sidelined.
Real Madrid has a couple of injury concerns in defense, with Ferland Mendy likely to miss out with a calf issue, while Antonio Rudiger is expected to start after missing the last game due to a knee injury. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Carlo Ancelotti change tactics and potentially deploy a 4-4-2 formation instead of his usual 4-3-3 after being dominated for a large portion of their recent Clasico meeting.
Given Real Madrid’s talent and knowhow, the visitors are expected to turn this into an enthralling tie before claiming victory in the shootout, despite Barcelona’s recent dominance in the rivalry.
