Carles Puyol is a doubt for Cup final

Barcelona look set to be without captain Carles Puyol for the Copa Del Rey final against bitter rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday. The defender strained a hamstring in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu - the first match of four between the teams over 18 days Madrid gained a psychological boost as they came back from 1-0 down to salvage a draw having had a man sent off. But Barca playmaker Xavi said: "Madrid will in no way emerge stronger." Puyol, who was playing his first match since 23 January because of a knee injury, was stretchered off after 58 minutes with a strained left hamstring. Barca coach Pep Guardiola said Puyol had "worked extremely hard and has strained his hamstring a bit". He added: "But it's not a serious injury and we will try to get him fit again for the future."  Raul Albiol was dismissed just after half-time for a foul on David Villa and Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the resultant penalty. The 10 men equalised after 82 minutes when Dani Alves gave away another spot-kick at the other end and Cristiano Ronaldo scored the goal that the home side believe will give them a platform for the upcoming matches. "The most important thing is that when we were losing and down to 10 men we showed the character to go on the counter attack and score a goal," said Real's Spain defender Alvaro Arbeloa. "If we continue to show such character we have a chance to win the upcoming games," centre back Ricardo Carvalho added. The result preserved Barca's eight-point lead over second-placed Real at the top of La Liga with six games left.and put them within touching distance of a third straight league title. Barca midfielder Xavi said: "We were superior, faithful to ourselves and we come away with positive feelings despite not getting the three points "We had control, with patience, we defended well and the game just got away from us at the end." After Wednesday night's Copa del Rey final at Valencia's Estadio Mestalla, the clubs will continue their rivalry in the two legs of their Champions League semi-final.