On Thursday, March 2, 2023, Real Madrid and Barcelona will meet in the first leg of the 2022-23 Copa del Rey Semi-Finals at Stadium Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.They will face for the 37th time inLa Copa.
The head-to-head record favors Barcelona, who have won 16 of the previous cup meetings, while Real Madrid havewon 12 and there have been eight draws. The most recent Copa del Rey match between these two giants took place on February 27, 2019, and concluded in a 3-0 victory for the Catalan side.
Although this will be their first meeting since then, the outcome will decide whichteam will havethe upper hand heading into the second leg. The Blaugrana are still dangerous despite the absence of Robert Lewandowski due to their lethal scoring attack.
Why is Robert Lewandowskimissing first leg of Copa del Rey El Clasico?
Unfortunately for Barcelona, striker Robert Lewandowski suffered a hamstring injurylastweekend and will miss Thursday’s first leg of their Copa del Rey Semi-Final matchup against rivals Real Madrid. The Poleis anticipated to miss two weeks of action after sustaining the injury in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Almeria.
According to a statement released by Barca, “Lewandowski has a strain in his left hamstring.” The club did not provide an estimate for how long he would be out of action. However, as per Spanish publicationRelevo, he may also miss thenext league games against Valencia on March 5 and Athletic Bilbao on March 12.
Nonetheless, Xavi Hernandezwill be hoping his superstar strikeris well enough to play in the March 19 La Liga match at Camp Nou against Carlo Ancelotti’s team. The Catalans also anticipate having Lewandowski back for the second leg of their Copa del Rey showdown on April 5.