Real Madrid vs. Barcelona are both well out of form heading into this Saturday’s 189th La Liga Clasico, but they are currently covering up their problems in anticipation of the first of this season’s rivalries for the title of greatest in Spanish football.
In the past, winning an El Clasico has usually served as a rubber stamp for the dominance of one club over another as they easily won the championship. Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid would argue otherwise, even if it is still without a doubt one of the most watched events worldwide.
Even though Real leads the table and Barca is only one point behind, there are problems at both teams, and this is why.
Tuesday’s Champions League goal by Rodrygo against Braga was the Brazilian’s first since he netted in the first game of the season. He holds the dubious distinction of being the player in each of the five major European leagues with the lowest return on shots on goal.
Surprisingly, Jude Bellingham’s excellent start to his Real Madrid career has obscured the issues; on Tuesday in Portugal, he scored his 11th goal in 12 appearances.
At Real Madrid, one must establish oneself right away and reputations are not taken into consideration. He has only been writing for four months, but already he is being compared to Zinedine Zidane and is being hailed as the side’s leader.
His aptitude, disposition, and application—as well as the ease with which he has adapted to Spanish culture—are utterly admired.
The good news for Real is that. The bad news is that he took a knock during the victory against Braga and has been doubtful for Saturday’s match. Nevertheless, he resumed training on Friday and is predicted to play.
Although Vinicius Jr., a forward from Brazil, is gradually returning to his peak and still has his moments, Real Madrid would be substantially different without Bellingham’s goals.
Due to injury, some key players for Barcelona could miss the important match.
One of the players who most likely could have participated in Wednesday’s Champions League victory against Shakhtar Donetsk is Robert Lewandowski, but it was probably better to save him for the Clasico.
Though Pedri is very close to making a comeback, Barca boss Xavi has stated that Pedri will not play. It is still unclear if Frenkie de Jong and Raphinha make it.
However, Barcelona does have some really good young players at their disposal, such Marc Guiu, 17, who scored on his La Liga debut just 30 seconds after joining the team, or Fermin Lopez, who this week was Barcelona’s best player in the Champions League, scoring once and hitting the crossbar twice.
The club is more taken aback by this young talent’s ascension than anyone else.
This is a group of people from various year groups who, until very recently, have not played together with the first team; it is not a choreographed, pre-planned golden generation.
While in separate year groups, Gavi and Alejandro Balde were both there at La Masia at the same time.
Like Fermin, who developed during his season-long loan at Linares, Lamine Yamal is of a different generation.
Ronald Araujo and Pedri Araujo are not La Masia alumni.
But when you needed them, they were all there.
In actuality, this is a roster that has seen regular quality reductions due to budgetary restrictions, regardless of the club’s declarations that it is a top-tier Barcelona team.
Although Xavi would prefer greater competition for spots, he must make due with a tiny group. At the very least, the return of injured players will offer him additional choices.
The foundation of Barcelona’s championship victory the previous year was defense. They have given up 10 goals in 10 league games this season. They didn’t give up their tenth goal of the season last year until matchday 31.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the German goalkeeper, was not as important this season as he was the previous one.
Three guys in particular are largely responsible for this Barcelona team’s winning mentality right now.
The Spain international Balde is a huge asset, particularly moving forward where he appears to be Jordi Alba’s replacement at left back.
Despite his wild style of play and all too regular displays of immaturity, Gavi is adored by everyone at Barcelona and has already established himself as a major character in the locker room.
Moving forward Ferran Torres, on the other hand, has advanced from self-doubt to playing with a fresh sense of assurance. The former Manchester City player deserves recognition for acknowledging that he need assistance to deal with his mental health.
However, Xavi understands that the Barcelona style will suffer without De Jong, Lewandowski, Raphinha, and most importantly, Pedri.
Xavi is fighting an uphill battle. There have been several late goals to secure points in the football game, which is not always stunning. Four of their seven wins have resulted from goals scored after the 80th minute.
There are rumors that Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is considering a move to the Brazilian national team, and there are concerns that the Italian manager may be displaying indications of demob happiness as he starts to consider life outside of the Bernabeu. All is not well with Ancelotti.
International breaks are known for providing players with an opportunity to return home and complain to their home media about how they are not being played as often or as they would like.
According to what we’ve been told, Rodrygo would rather play inside and on the right, Eduardo Camavinga would rather play in central midfield but is occasionally used as a full-back, Aurelien Tchouameni would rather play in midfield and dislikes being placed at center-back, and Luka Modric would just like to play more minutes.
The team is not affected by the financial crisis
On the field, where things are never dull, is where some of the most boring things at Barcelona happen these days.
The team is facing allegations of corruption related to payments sent to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the Spanish referees’ committee.
Additionally, Barca must play their games in Montjuic, which is still located in Barcelona but has been deemed too distant for many of the club’s “socios” to travel to for home matches. The club’s debt is enormous, totaling 2.7 billion euros (£2.35 billion) if the costs of the new stadium are included.
The cap on home game attendance, even for those who would like to go, is 49,472, which is around half of the capacity of the former Camp Nou. The crowd for their last-weekend game versus Athletic Bilbao was a mere 38,194.
Does Barcelona suffer on the field as a result? Not at all. It’s all about Xavi, his never-ending optimism, and his ability to distinguish between what needs to be done on the field and what is happening off it.
Despite not truly realizing how tough the job would be, he is happy in it. He needs to be more than simply the manager; he needs to represent the club and answer questions about everything and everything, even though it is outside of his purview.
This coming weekend, when triumph will leave everyone thinking that all is OK in Barcelona’s garden, there most definitely won’t be a spare seat in the house. Disaster? Welche crisis?