Atletico Madrid wants to recreate good memories at Montjuic against Barcelona, after Diego Simeone's very first competition -triumph over the Blaugrana in Catalonia in December. The Copa del Rey semi-final first leg starts at 9:30 PM CEST, in what is predicted as a tight meeting.
Hansi Flick is the manager with more doubts about how to approach the game, and confirms that he would assess the qualities needed against Atletico Madrid to resolve his dilemmas in midfield. Andreas Christensen, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are all injured, but the question is whether Lamine Yamal Fit will be enough to start after missing the training on Monday.
However, most expect that he will start, as is the case for MD. Inigo Martinez is expected to anchor the backline, but the big decisions are in midfield, where Gavi and Frenkie de Jong get the nod about Marc Casado and Dani Olmo. That prediction is shared by sport, although they also predict a surprise in the backline, with Ronald Arajo appearing in their line-up for Pau Cubarsi.
Diego Simeone confirmed that without Cesar Azpilicueta he would be due to injury, and that Juan Musso would continue in the goal instead of Jan Oblak in the Copa luminaires. Koke Resurreccion is the only other player who is missing, and Pablo Barrios is back from the suspension to join Rodrigo de Paul in midfield.
It seems that there is little doubt about the intentions of Simeone, where Marcos Llorente returns to right-back and Samuel Lino plays on the left. MD has Clement Lenglet for Javi Galan on the left side of the defense, but both Jose Gimenez and Robin Le Normand have been tipped to start. Alexander Sorloth, the fall of Barcelona in the first meeting between the two, will again be an impact replacement for Simeone, just like Conor Gallagher.
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