A Spanish colleague writing in El Pais suggested earlier in the week that tomorrow’s El Clasico could be an era defining match, with Real Madrid players determined to give FC Barcelona such a thrashing as to leave no doubt that supremacy has shifted back to the men in white as in the pre-Laporta era. It’s the kind of hype, not entirely unbiased , that one expects from the Madrid and Barcelona media in the run up to an El Clasico but a prediction which nonetheless is worth considering.
On form alone Real Madrid have shown a consistency as the season has progressed that has been lacking in their rivals, looking increasingly impressive on an upward curve, when Barca has been on a kind of helter-skelter of not great peaks and embarrassing troughs.
The contrast has had to do I believe in large measure not with luck but as a consequence of the nature of management and team selection. While Real Madrid has found a certain stability and cohesion, not to mention ethical compass, post-Mourinho, FC Barcelona seems to have been hoisted on the petard of its own mythology-that it is more than just a club, destined to be more deserving of support than its historic rival .
After the trauma of Guardiola’s departure and his replacement by the heroic but ultimately flawed Tito Vilanova project, Barca has been entrusted to an Argentine coach/manager -untested in European club football-that has opted for a strategy of rotation that had yet to prove its effectiveness, other than to possibly leave some important players of Spain’s national team not quite as exhausted as they approach this summer’s World Cup as they were in last season’s Confederation’s Cup final.
Such is the uncertainty that Tata Martino has fuelled , that at this critical stage in the season there is no consensus of opinion as to which of Barca’s various potential line outs works best, not least in attack where Neymar has yet to earn the right to claim that he is worth leaving Pedro and Alexis Sanchez on the bench for .
Against Osasuna last weekend, Neymar was left on the bench, and Barca crushed the opposition 7-0, with Messi finding a spark that seems to have eluded him for much of the season when playing alongside the Brazilian.
As it is, Real Madrid, not withstanding the injury of this season’s great revelation Jese Rodriguez, can still present a far greater challenge to FC Barcelona’s defence than any other team in La Liga, with the likes of Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Morata, and Isco a clear and present danger not just in swift counter-attacks but in set pieces.
For its part, Barca arrive at the Bernabeu dragging behind it a season during which serious questions have been asked about the probity of its biggest signing , Messi’s fitness and state of mind, and the robustness or lack of it of Barca’s defence. And this is without mentioning Qatar, FC Barcelona’s main sponsor that this weekend became embroiled in fresh allegations about bribes linked to its Word Cup bid.
And yet whatever the outcome, tomorrow’s match while perhaps defining the outcome of the League championship will be just another battle between the two great rivals-one set to continue this season with the final of the King’s Cup, and the Champions League which by the way still has Russia Gazprom as its major sponsor-for now at least.
Dear Jimmy,
This season will be a defining season how this team will be remembered (xavi-messi-iniesta), no doubts we should get new signings next summer.
Liga season matches (not only Real Madrid), todays effort to create doubts for Final Copa del Rey and beat At. Madrid in UCL draw, are the milestone of of this hurting animal called Barça.
The best is we are against on the fight, what’s more we have more to win rather than to lose.
But what about fitness, Has barça done its duties? it is what we will see today, it’s clear that they go 80% on liga matches and 100% on UCL.
About Russia, business as usual, shows how the policy of nationalities should be deployed, 100 years later we are still dealing with Wilson’s declaration aftermath, Wilson outsourced the imperialistic struggles avoiding to be struck in armaggedon situations, now Catalonia could set up another standard than kosovo or kurdistan’s one.
Good Luck for today Jimmy!!!
The Barça season will be remembered for the scandals that have rocked the club to the core making the myth of “more than a club” seem like a bad joke: from Messi’s tax avoidance, Messi’s father links with the Colombian narcos, Neymar’s scandalous transfer deal which toppled a President, and I am sure the Qatar connection will eventually implicate the club as it is doing FIFA.
On the pitch the same methodology is used that have helped Barça beat rivals such as Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and of course Real Madrid… playing against 10 men. Neymars dive was a superb theatrical piece that resulted in a penalty, Ramos sent off, match over.
As for Gazprom and if I were Catalan, I would leave the Russian connection to one side and remove the spotlight from there, as all that will be remembered is the following: an illegal referendum being used to legalize a change in the status of a country!
Captain Terry, the name is embarassing. Catalunya is not Spain and you will not stop progress or FC Barcelona. Your season could end up like Franco – dead. We just might win la liga.
El clasico!! Indeed the only thing that matters check out these greatest el clasico victories and defeats http://www.whatsuptrendy.com/all/sports/the-three-greatest-el-clasico-victories-and-defeats/