“We're going there to win” – Messi confident of Copa del Rey victory against Real Madrid

What's the story?

Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi has expressed confidence that his side will emerge victorious when they travel to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final against rivals Real Madrid later this week.

In case you didn't know...

The first leg of the fixture ended in a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou, which means that Los Blancos have a slight advantage over the Catalan giants.

Meanwhile, Barcelona had just come off of a 2-4 win over Sevilla in La Liga courtesy of their captain who netted the 50th hat-trick of his career during the clash.

The goals take the Argentine's tally to 25 in the Spanish top flight, thereby extending his lead in the European Golden Shoe race. Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe follows close behind with 22 goals while Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo sits at third place with 19 goals.

The clash is the first of two Clasicos this week, with a La Liga game scheduled a few days after the cup clash on March 2.

The heart of the matter

Ahead of Barcelona's two Clasicos, Messi has exuded confidence in his team's ability to defeat their longstanding rivals in the Spanish capital.

Speaking to Sport English, the 31-year-old said, “All competitions are important for us. We don't throw any competition. We are one step from a final in the cup.”

“It is going to be a really tough game because it's against Real Madrid and it's at their ground (...) but we're going there to win and we're confident we can do it. After that, we will think about La Liga game there, but we want to win everything.”

What's next?

You can catch the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final between Barcelona and Real Madrid on Wednesday night.