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A report from SPORT has claimed that Barcelona sent the club’s coaching staff to the Al Awwal Park in Riyadh to ‘spy’ on Real Madrid’s 5-3 win over Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final yesterday.
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid played an absolute feast of a match in front of a 25,000 sold-out crowd at the venue where Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, plays its games.
Interestingly enough, most of the fans were Real Madrid supporters and Ferran Correas of SPORT has mentioned that there were also three people in the stands wearing Barça clothes.
These three individuals were part of Xavi’s coaching staff. Toni Lobo, David Prats, and Sergio García closely observed the match to analyze the opponent for a potential final.
They always travel with the team, with Prats and García focusing on analyzing the rival team, while Lobo mainly analyzes Barça itself.
It is likely that they paid special attention to set pieces, as Real Madrid has been creating a lot of danger in recent games, particularly scoring goals from corner kicks through Antonio Rudiger.
How will Barcelona approach the Osasuna game?
Xavi is expected to field a strong starting XI vs Osasuna. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Xavi didn’t want to reveal his team lineup for the upcoming match against Osasuna, but he hinted that he’s planning to use his best players to reach the final during his pre-match press conference.
There’s uncertainty about Pedri playing, but he might come off from the bench since he did train with his teammates yesterday.
As such, Xavi is likely to to have three centre-backs (Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, and Andreas Christensen) and Alejandro Balde on the left. In the midfield, Ilkay Gundogan, Frenkie De Jong, and Sergi Roberto are expected to start.
Upfront, there’s a choice between Raphinha or Lamine Yamal to accompany Lewandowski and Ferran. Joao Felix might be on the bench since he didn’t perform well in the Cup.
Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/barcelona-coaching-staff-spied-on-real-madrid-during-super-cup-semi-final-vs-atletico/
Author : Ash Reyna
Publish date : 2024-01-11 10:12:55
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