The Copa Del Rey finals are live on Wednesday for the first leg and the match has Real Madrid and Barcelona playing on the radio and streaming online starting up at 3:30 pm ET and the game will be missing some star power at Mestalla, as Cristiano Ronaldo will be out for the match and that leaves Lionel Messi in the spotlight as the two clubs battle after their La Liga fight earlier in the season.
The trophy is an important one for both sides and they come in after winning in the previous round and Real Madrid dominated La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid in the semis, while Barcelona was able to get past Real Sociedad and now the teams will face off in the finals. The first match has a ton of weight, as historically that can be a good marker for who wins and Reeal will be down a star with Ronaldo and that will make the match even harder and it comes after they already lost the last El Clasico with Barcelona in March and that was a very entertaining match that saw Messi score a hat trick to get the victory.
Barcelona comes into the match with Messi leading in scoring still and he missed time earlier this year, but that was during the holiday season and the team did not suffer much without him. Barca has been clumping as of late, as they lost to Granada in the La Liga schedule and also were eliminated from the Champions League with a loss to Atletico Madrid and now they will try to avenge that here and later in the season when they play the team again. The scoring has not been as potent as of late but the team is hoping to change that on Wednesday after scoring just six goals over the last four games and that is below what they usually do.
Real Madrid will have to pull together without Ronaldo, as he is by far their best player and most consistent scorer and that led Carlo Ancelotti to say that his team will be prepared for the match on Wednesday even without Ronaldo in the lineup. The last time that Ronaldo played was against Borussia Dortmund in the first leg match in the previous round of the Champions League and he has not played since then and that has put Real in a tough situation, especially with the next round of the UCL coming up and that is against the defending champions in Bayern Munich and they have played very well all season.
Ronaldo has been out since early April and now he has the chance to train and heal up, but since he has yet to come back, many have wondered whether the injury is more serious than the team has said. Ronaldo is dealing with knee pain and thigh issues and that puts even more pressure on Gareth Bale after his record move this summer and now that needs to truly pay off, as he is third on the team in scoring and has been playing well of late and now he will have to keep that going without the top star on the pitch.
Check here for the Copa Del Rey finals match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.