The 5-2 comeback victory over Borussia Dortmund was perhaps Real Madrid’s most sensational win this season, marking their status as one of Europe’s best and proving to the world that they are almost invincible.
Despite the team’s overall poor form this season, the Merengues have retained their elite mentality and know that a few minutes of play is all they need to assert their dominance in any game.
Heading into Saturday night’s clash against Barcelona, there is a slight concern over the absences of Thibaut Courtois and Rodrygo Goes who were both injured midweek. However, the team has able resources to fill in and the manager will not be overtly worried.
A lot rides on the result of El Clasico tomorrow night, a game for which Carlo Ancelotti’s men have the home advantage and reasonable momentum heading into. A fascinating clash awaits, one that will see elite mini-battles all across the field.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of El Clasico.
A worthy battle
El Clasico has been football’s most elite fixture since time immemorial. Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry is, after all, the classic rivalry in the sport and represents a fixture that is much more than the 90 minutes of football that unfolds.
While the two teams have quite equally split the spoils over the years, the chart has been skewed towards the men in white in the more recent past. After, all, the Blaugrana have been in a state of rebuild with no conviction around their play.
This season, however, Barcelona are far more dangerous and have a serious bite to their attack. The Catalans have been solid in defence, poetic through midfield and lethal in the final third and their recent scorelines are a testament to the same.
For the first time in years, tomorrow’s Clasico will be one where no side can be called a favourite and is thus a game worthy of the ‘Clasico‘ tag.
The Merengues, fresh off their win over Borussia Dortmund, will look to get past their early season jitters and dish out a dominant display to announce their return to form.
Barcelona, meanwhile, will look to continue their exquisite run that recently saw a 4-1 win over Bayern Munich.
A parallel storyline, moreover, sees a certain historic record on the line as Los Blancos are just one game away from equalling Barcelona’s record of the most games unbeaten in La Liga.
A win or a stalemate tomorrow will see them draw level in a detail that only adds weight to the result. Regardless of the result, the 90 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu tomorrow will be fascinating to watch and the result simply cannot be predicted.
No room for defensive errors
Barcelona have scored a staggering 33 goals in just 10 La Liga games this season and boast of Europe’s most lethal attacking trio in Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
The Polish striker has enjoyed a stunning start to the season and has 12 goals in La Liga, six more than second-placed Kylian Mbappe.
Raphinha, the team’s captain on most days, has been in red-hot form across competitions and even scored a sensational hat-trick against Bayern Munich earlier this week. His work between the lines has been enormous and he has pulled the strings in attack with ease.
Yamal, meanwhile, at just 17 years of age has been toying with defenders and racking up assists for fun and is one of the best players in his position in world football.
All eyes tomorrow night, thus, will be on Real Madrid’s defensive line which has been shaky all season, to say the least.
Los Blancos once again looked unstable at the back against Borussia Dortmund earlier this week and conceded two goals in the first half, echoing the general state of their backline all season.
Tomorrow’s result, thus, will largely depend on the partnership between Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao who must be more solid than ever before. Ferland Mendy, concurrently, must play out of his skin to keep up with Yamal.
Barcelona’s current attack has shown to be able to rip through defences with the slightest slip-ups and it is thus clear that the result will largely depend on the solidity at the back.
Chance to draw level
Barcelona have been flying in La Liga so far this season and are rightfully at the top of the table with 27 points in ten games. Their only defeat came against Osasuna when the manager was forced to rotate owing to the hectic schedule.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, have been able to maintain their unbeaten streak but have not been convincing for the most part and trail their arch-rivals by three points as they failed to capitalise on the Blaugrana’s slip-up.
Tomorrow’s game thus presents the Merengues with their best chance yet to draw level with the league leaders. A win at the Santiago Bernabeu will see them push up to 27 points and only behind on goal difference, thus setting up a tense battle.
Any other result, however, will have Hansi Flick’s men preserve their lead with a win even extending the gap to six points which is massive at this stage of the season.
Given Barcelona’s exquisite form and rich goalscoring run, it is unlikely that they will be stopped easily in La Liga. Keeping up with them is thus vital and Ancelotti and co. must look to capitalise on the chance presented to them.