{"id":416364,"date":"2011-05-03T12:02:06","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T12:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/03\/barcelona-v-madrid-preview\/"},"modified":"2011-05-03T12:02:06","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T12:02:06","slug":"barcelona-v-madrid-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/03\/barcelona-v-madrid-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona v Madrid preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"88.3482250664\">\n<div readability=\"31.6115702479\"><span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/img.skysports.com\/11\/04\/218x298\/Lionel-Messi-Real-Madrid-Barcelona-Champions-_2590430.jpg\" alt=\"Barcelona v Madrid preview\" title=\"Barcelona v Madrid preview\" width=\"218\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Messi: Will aim to secure place in final<\/span><\/p>\n<div readability=\"15.8100890208\">\n<p><span><strong>SKY SPORTS ON SKY<\/strong><br \/>There&#8217;s more live football on Sky Sports than ever before, including the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, England away Euro 2012 qualifiers and La Liga. With four live Sky Sports channels, as well as Sky Sports News, you&#8217;ll never miss a moment on Sky. Click <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sky.com\/shop\/sports\/home\/?DCMP=DMC-JUL10_sports_SK_skysports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a><\/strong> for more.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3><span>Related links<\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><span>Teams<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><span>Also see<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"main-content\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span>Barcelona and Real Madrid will both be looking to restore their reputations as they meet for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The match at the Camp Nou is the fourth &#8216;El Clasico&#8217; in 18 days and follows last Wednesday&#8217;s ill-tempered first leg at the Bernabeu.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Real coach Jose Mourinho and Barca boss Pep Guardiola were involved in a war of words in the build-up, and an eagerly-anticipated match was marred by numerous flashpoints on and off the field, while the aftermath has been even worse, with bickering, claims and counter-claims tarnishing the image of two proud clubs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mourinho has emerged with the least credit, with his comments showing his desperation after Barca won 2-0 to put one foot in the final, held at Wembley on 28th May.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mourinho was sent from the technical area for complaining about the second-half dismissal of defender Pepe and, after the game, he claimed there is a refereeing conspiracy in favour of Barca.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Real lodged an official complaint with Uefa about the behaviour of Barca players during the first leg, and in turn, the Catalan club lodged a complaint over Mourinho&#8217;s comments while considering legal action against the Portuguese boss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And Barca captain Xavi has now criticised Real for their manipulation of the Bernabeu pitch both last Wednesday and prior to their league game on 16th April.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span>Complaints rejected<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span>On Monday, Uefa rejected the protests from both clubs but their disciplinary committee will examine six existing charges against them on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>All that has taken attention away from what was an amazing goal by Lionel Messi late in the first leg. The Argentinian star had already poked Barca into a 76th-minute lead before dribbling through the Real defence and converting a sublime second.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That moment of brilliance showed why this Barca side is regarded as one of the best ever and why they do not need to resort to the gamesmanship they often showed at the Bernabeu.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Neutrals and fans alike will be hoping that two star-studded sides let their feet do the talking in the return match at the Camp Nou rather than bringing out the worst in each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But neither side has had an ideal preparation as they both lost while fielding under-strength sides in La Liga at the weekend, meaning leaders Barca stay eight points clear of Real with four games left.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The hosts are 24 matches unbeaten at the Camp Nou in all competitions, winning the last nine. Real need a repeat of their 2-0 semi-final win there in 2002 just to take the game into extra-time but the last time they won at the Camp Nou was in December 2007 and they lost the league game 5-0 back in November.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span>Team news<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span>Eric Abidal is back in the Barca squad having regained fitness after having a tumour removed from his liver.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The French full-back has not played since March, when the tumour was discovered, but Barca&#8217;s medical team have now given him the all-clear to return to action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Midfield star Andres Iniesta (calf) is also back in contention after missing the first leg but Gabriel Milito (thigh) has joined Maxwell (groin), Adriano (thigh) and Bojan Krkic (knee) on the sidelines, while reserve keeper Jose Pinto is suspended after managing to get himself sent off while on the bench last week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Real will have to do without defensive duo Pepe and Sergio Ramos, who both picked up bans in the first leg, although Ricardo Carvalho is back from a one-match suspension.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sami Khedira and Fernando Gago are both out with adductor injuries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mourinho is banned from the touchline after being sent to the stands last week but his assistant Aitor Karanka insists he will still be communicating with the Real bench.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more from the original source:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/match_preview\/0,19764,11065_3389959,00.html\" title=\"Barcelona v Madrid preview\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barcelona v Madrid preview<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Messi: Will aim to secure place in final SKY SPORTS ON SKY There&#8217;s more live football on Sky Sports than ever before, including the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, England away Euro 2012 qualifiers and La Liga. With four live Sky Sports channels, as well as Sky Sports News, you&#8217;ll never miss a moment on Sky. Click here for more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barcelona v Madrid preview - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/03\/barcelona-v-madrid-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Barcelona v Madrid preview - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Messi: Will aim to secure place in final SKY SPORTS ON SKY There&#039;s more live football on Sky Sports than ever before, including the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, England away Euro 2012 qualifiers and La Liga. 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