Toni Kroos Talks 'Special' Clasico, Real Madrid Boss Santiago Solari

Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos is eagerly anticipating Wednesday's Copa del Rey Clasico against Barcelona, which he feels is a "special" game.

The teams take a 1-1 scoreline to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg of the Copa semi-final, where the winner will only have Real Betis or Valencia standing in the way of the trophy.

Per Marca, Kroos said:

"The atmosphere is always special and you can even notice it the days before in the preparation.

"There is a lot of emotion and it is special because it is a great battle against a great team.

"The two best teams in the world face each other, and in the locker room it feels like it's a unique game for all the players because of their history.

"There have been many crazy matches between the two teams and Barcelona are a very difficult team to defend against because they have a lot of quality in all positions."

Los Blancos will face Barcelona again at the Bernabeu on Saturday. That match will take place in La Liga, where Real trail Barca by nine points, so it's a must-win if the former want to have any chance of overhauling the latter to win the title.

Real looked to have hit form at the right time when they held Barca to a draw at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the Copa semi-final, which they followed up with a 3-1 win at Atletico Madrid in La Liga.

However, in their last two matches, they let slip a lead to lose 2-1 to Girona and needed two penalties to scrape past Levante on Sunday, one of which was highly controversial.

ESPN's Dermot Corrigan noted their drop-off:

Kroos reserved praise for manager Santiago Solari, though, adding: "The good thing is that the coach knows about the things that happen on the pitch at this level. He knows how we feel and can help us a little more, because he has gone through the same situations in his playing career."

Former Real player Solari replaced Julen Lopetegui in October after the latter began his stint in the dugout with just six wins and as many defeats in his opening 14 matches.

Kroos had sympathy for Lopetegui, whom he said "did a great job but he had no luck."

Sports journalist Richard Martin observed the difference in fortunes between the two managers:

The final straw for Lopetegui was a 5-0 defeat to Barcelona, who were without Lionel Messi at the time.

Wednesday's clash is likely to be much closer, as the first leg was, though Los Blancos will need to be far better than they have been in their last two performances.