Barcelona and Real Madrid are set to meet in the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday evening (2 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+ in the U.S.) in the second Clasico fixture of the season.
Real emerged victorious first time around in October, leaving Camp Nou with a 2-1 win that sent them top of LaLiga.
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The old foes clash again to contest the first of the semifinals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a place in the grand final on Sunday on the line. Atletico Madrid meet Athletic Bilbao in the other semi on Thursday (2 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+ in the U.S.)
While Barca are unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions, Xavi Hernandez’s injury-depleted side have endured a relative struggle to drum up goals this campaign.
Benzema and Vinicius have scored more goals this season than the entire Barcelona squad combined 😳 pic.twitter.com/m3ywucMc4d
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 9, 2022
Indeed, Real pair Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior have outscored the entire Barca squad thus far, having shared 36 goals between themselves as opposed to the 35 goals collectively amassed by the Catalans.
Benzema has scored 22 goals in just 25 games this season, while Vinicius has pitched in with 14 goals in 26 matches in what has comfortably been the young Brazilian forward’s most productive season since his move to Real in 2018.
On the other hand, Barca’s top goal scorer is Memphis Depay, who has accumulated eight goals in all competitions in 2021-22. The Dutchman hasn’t scored since November, though in mitigation he did miss five games over Christmas and New Year with a hamstring injury.
No other player has managed more than four goals for Barcelona as we move into the latter half of the campaign, and only two players have scored more than three.
Perhaps it’s little…
Source : espn

