Clear message comes from Real Madrid dressing room for Barcelona final – ‘If we do that, we win’ | OneFootball

Barcelona squeezed past Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night with a 1-0 win that secured their passage, 5-4 on aggregate, to the Copa del Rey final. Awaiting them at La Cartuja are Real Madrid, with a Clasico final on the way on the 26th of April. After the Blaugrana beat Atletico, a clear messaged resounded from the group chat in the Real Madrid dressing room.

According to El Chiringuito, some of the leaders of the Real Madrid dressing room were clear on how to beat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final, despite being beaten 5-2 and 4-0 in their previous two meetings with Hansi Flick’s side this season. Los Blancos believe that if they compete for 60 minutes, and manage to battle and fight to be on even footing or ahead by that point, then they will win the final.

Their view that Barcelona are an excellent team, that competes very well and are very good, but above all in the first hour of the game. However the Real Madrid leadership believe that Barcelona tend to experience a drop physically in the final third of the game, and their feeling is that in terms of fitness, they have the advantage. Should they be able to handle the initial assault from the Blaugrana attack, then they feel they can have joy in the final stages of the encounter.

Image via Juanjo Martin / EFE

It is certainly true that in the second half against Atletico, Barcelona dropped a lot deeper, with Atletico Madrid taking control of the ball. It is not clear how much of that step off was by design from Flick, who put on Ronald Araujo and Eric Garcia, removing Fermin Lopez in a clear shift towards security at the back. In most of the big games Barcelona have won this season, including wins over Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, they have gone into the final 20 minutes of the game with a two-goal lead.