Barcelona v Real Madrid
All eyes will be focused on the biggest match in world football this weekend as Barcelona and Real Madrid face off in the El Clasico. A lot is at stake as this match could decide who wins the La Liga title come end of the season. With Barca just 4 points behind Real Madrid, they have the opportunity to cut down Madrid’s lead to just 1 point while Madrid have a chance of extending their lead by 7 points, which inevitably will win them the title. Apart from the significance of El Clasico, football fans will see the duel for European scoring records between Messi and Ronaldo who sit tied on 41 goals at the top of the La Liga scoring charts, they have also scored 63 and 53 in all competitions respectively.
A month ago, Madrid were cruising to the league title 10 points above Barca and it was just a matter of time before they were going to be crowned champions, but three draws in their last six games have blown the title race wide open while Barcelona has hit peak form at the right time having recorded six wins in that particular period.
Barcelona are on an 11 game winning streak that has seen them close the gap on Madrid to just four points. Lionel Messi has unsurprisingly been at the heart of it all. Barca grinded out a 2-1 victory at 5th place Levante last Saturday with Messi equalling Ronaldo’s 41 goals for the season by scoring both. Levante took an early lead after being awarded a penalty before Messi levelled with half an hour to go. The Argentine then stepped up to score a spot-kick as Barca took all three points.
Real Madrid had to fight hard to overcome a well organised defensive performance by Sporting Gijon last Saturday in a 3-1 home win. Cristiano Ronaldo broke his own goal scoring in a season record and Real Madrid equalled the most ever goals scored in a La Liga season. More importantly it took them 4 points clear of Barcelona. Besides Ronaldo being Madrid’s main threat going forward, this will be the first El Clasico in a while that sees the talented Kaka go into in good form and injury free. The Brazilian midfielder has scored eight goals and has created 14 during the course of the season and his experience and quality will be a big plus in this match. Mourinho will likely continue with Madrid’s 4-2-3-1 formation with Karim Benzema leading the line, Kaka behind him and Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria on either wing.
It’s difficult for any team playing at the Nou Camp and Barcelona seem to raise their game against their rivals. Madrid will need to take full advantage of whatever little possession they enjoy with Barca sure to control the game and pull the trigger when the Madrid defence suffer a lapse in concentration. Barca have peaked at the right time and having the experience of winning the title will only put their opposition under more pressure during the title run-in. Barcelona are unbeaten against Madrid in the league for the past four seasons. The first round match saw Barca go down 1-0 at the Bernabeu in the first few minutes only to come back and win the match 3-1. Back the league champions to claim all 3 points again.
