Follow live score and report from the Copa del Rey final between Gareth Bale's Real and Lionel Messi's Barca at the Mestalla, Valencia, on Wednesday, April 16 2014
Dynamic duo: Gareth Bale (left) and Lionel Messi (right) are the key men
Photo: GETTY IMAGES/AFP
Real Madrid 0-0 Barcelona (ko 8.30pm BST)
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to miss tonight's Copa del Rey final against Barcelona due to a hamstring injury.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti explained at his pre-match press conference that the Portugal international will instead focus on being fit for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich next week.
Ancelotti said: "Cristiano is not availabe because we don't want to take risks and we have other very important games this season. He will do individual work (on Wednesday) and then travel to watch the game."
The Italian has been criticised for not resting Ronaldo earlier in the campaign, to prevent him from getting injured at this crucial stage of the season, but insisted: "I don't think that would have changed anything. With him or without him in the team, we have the same idea of how we want to play.
"Cristiano didn't rest because he didn't need to rest. There was no situation where we saw him being too tired. At this stage of the season, many players have this problem and we have taken as much care with him as we have with all the other players."
Rob Smyth will bring you all the action from 7pm tonight. Don't miss it!
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