Madrid, March 2 – FC Barcelona faces a daunting task on Tuesday when they face Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final, aiming to overturn a 4-0 deficit from the first leg.
Atletico completely dominated Barcelona in the first leg of the semi-final, with Giuliano Simeone and Ademola Lookman exploiting weaknesses in Barcelona's high defensive line and creating numerous scoring opportunities in the first half, leaving Hansi Flick's side demoralized and defeated.
Three weeks later, Barcelona has bounced back, with Raphinha fully fit, Lamine Yamal back to his best, and midfielder Pedri recovered from his hamstring injury that kept him out of the game at the Metropolitano Stadium.
"In the dressing room, the players are saying that if anyone can come back from 4-0 down, it's us," Pedri commented in an interview with the Spanish state TV network, RTVE, on Monday.
"We have had games this season where we were down 2-0 and managed to turn it around in just 20 minutes, so if we have 90 minutes, let's see if we can do that with four goals," he added.
Barcelona would have gained confidence from their impressive 4-1 win over Villarreal on Saturday, inspired by a Lamine Yamal hat-trick, with Pedri and Marc Bernal controlling the midfield.
Frenkie de Jong suffered a hamstring injury last week and will miss the game, and Robert Lewandowski will also be out on Tuesday after suffering a fractured eye socket against Villarreal, but Marcus Rashford will return after a substitute appearance on Saturday.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone rested several key players at the weekend, with defenders David Hancko, Marc Pubill, and Matteo Ruggeri all on the bench for the lucky 1-0 win in Oviedo. Giuliano Simeone and Julian Alvarez were also substitutes, along with Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente, and Koke, and all will start on Tuesday night.
Last season saw the semi-final first leg between the two sides end in a thrilling 4-4 in Montjuic, this time Atletico will be thinking that all they need is to catch Barcelona once on the break, and it will leave the reigning Cup holders with a mountain that even they can't climb.
Real Sociedad defends a 1-0 first-leg lead at home to Athletic Bilbao in the second semi-final on Wednesday night.
