Barcelona go into this game as hot favourites to go through, following the 2:1 victory in the first leg at Santiago Bernabeu, but Real Madrid are going to try everything they can to keep the tie alive for as long as possible.

The Catalans may not have been too impressive this season, but they already beat Real Madrid three times, showing who’s the boss in Spain.

Once again, Barcelona conceded an early goal at the Bernabeu, but they produced a great performance to win the tie 2:1, thanks to unlikely heroes Puyol and Abidal.

The 4:1 away win over very good Malaga side proved that Pep Guardiola’s side are on top of their game at the moment, so backing them to win at 1.67 (2/3) offered by Stan James looks like the right thing to do.

Lionel Messi continued his remarkable scoring form with a hat-trick against Malaga and he is now 1.67 (2/3) with Ladbrokes to score against Real as well.

Pep Guardiola has no fresh injury worries, although David Villa, Ibrahim Afellay and Andreu Fontas remain long-term worries.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Pinto – Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal – Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta – Sanchez, Messi, Fabregas.

Real Madrid have been thoroughly impressive in all the competitions entered this season, and they look on course to win the La Liga title, but regular defeats to their fierce rivals are clearly having a devastating effect on the squad.

We could all see the behaviour of Jose Mourinho’s players when Barcelona overturned the one-goal deficit, and that proves that they would like nothing better than to finally record a morale-boosting victory over the Catalans.

That is easier said than done considering that Barca have a huge psychological advantage after the 2:1 victory in the first leg, and not even at 5.50 (9/2) offered by 188BET does away victory look a good bet.

Los Blancos experienced some problems in the weekend’s clash with Athletic Bilbao, but good second-half performance helped them record a big win over in-form los Leones.

Jose Mourinho is expected to make numerous changes to the side that faced Barca at the Bernabeu, with Ozil, Kaka and Varane all expected to start after the impressive showing against Bilbao.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Casillas – Arbeloa, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo – Alonso, Diarra – Kaka, Ozil, Ronaldo – Higuain.