Barcelona vs Real Madrid

Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to trade tackles in a blockbuster Supercopa de Espana semi-final encounter at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Barcelona head into this fixture on the back of an underwhelming 1-1 draw at Granada last time out, making it one clean sheet from their last nine competitive matches. In addition to their defensive woes, Xavi Hernandez’s men have been a bit blunt in the front third of late, netting precisely once in three of their previous four competitive games, drawing a blank before half-time in the last two in a row. That’s not the kind of form they need ahead of this encounter, especially considering they’ve lost their last four La Liga H2Hs on the trot, conceding 2+ goals on each occasion. Another defeat here would see Barca lose five consecutive meetings with Madrid for the first time since 1965. But expect the Catalans to go for broke as the Supercopa de Espana remains their best shot at silverware this term.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid cruised to a comprehensive 4-1 home win over Valencia last time out to set themselves up nicely for this clash. Since falling to a frustrating 1-0 defeat at Getafe in their opening 2022 fixture, ‘Los Merengues’ have won back-to-back competitive games by an aggregate score of 7-2, making it 13 wins across their last 15 outings in all competitions. Madrid’s recent free-scoring form contrasts their uneventful showings over the festive period, as they failed to score in two of their three competitive games beforehand. Gunning for their 12th Supercopa success, Carlo Ancelotti’s men will call upon their late bursts to rescue them here should things remain tight late on, having registered 20% of their La Liga goals this season beyond the 70th minute.