La Liga Preview: Real Madrid - Barcelona

Posted Friday, April 09, 2010 by Goal.com

The eyes of the footballing world will be locked on the Santiago Bernabeu come Saturday night as two of the game’s greatest titans, los Merengues and la Blaugrana, do battle...

Kick Off: Saturday, April 10, 2010. 22:00 CET
Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

Respectful But Confident

Locked together at the summit of La Primera Division on 77 points, having spilled only 13 points apiece this season, Real Madrid and Barcelona are set to do battle on Saturday evening at the Bernabeu in what is by some distance the most anticipated fixture of the Spanish season to date.

Though both camps seem to have been at pains to stress this game will not be decisive, there can be little doubt that it is vitally important to both sides, but most notably Real, who simply cannot afford to let their great rivals escape in the league having already crashed out of the Champions League.

“There are still many games,” Ezequiel Garay told AS. “It is clear that all the games we have left are very difficult and we cannot focus only on one.”

Undoubtedly Saturday’s clash against Barcelona is the toughest left for los Blancos, who are acutely aware that the Spanish title race has boiled down to the most expensively assembled side ever and the one who have been tagged by many pundits as the best team in the history of the game.

Guti is feeling confident though, regarding Barcelona as equals as opposed to the superhuman team they are sometimes painted to be. “This year, we are at Barca's level of play,” he mused. “Real Madrid are always favourites when we play at home.”

“A great Barca side are arriving, but we are also on a very strong winning streak,” Blancos midfielder Xabi Alonso told Marca. “I believe we have the weapons to deal with them and, if I were a defender, I would be worried about Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain.”

The former Liverpool man is correct: los Merengues are on a stunning winning streak, enjoying 12 successive victories since losing to Athletic Bilbao in mid-January. Most staggeringly, the capital club have been scoring goals in abundant quantities, having registered 39 times over that period.

Smacking three goals past the likes of Deportivo La Coruna, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid is one thing, capable sides though they are, but doing likewise against the European champions is another altogether.

Aiming For More Bernabeu Success

Barcelona sent off a warning shot to Real Madrid on Tuesday evening, showing that they still possess a team packed with flair, fortitude and a fine mental attitude. Pep Guardiola’s side bounced back from the loss of an early goal against Premier League hopefuls Arsenal to totally blow the Gunners away, moving in the process into the last four of the Champions League.

Now odds-on favourites to claim European club football’s most prestigious prize, la Blaugrana will not only want to lift ‘the big-eared trophy’ at the home of their most bitter rivals; they will also want to plunge a stake into the heart of Real Madrid’s title challenge at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Few will need reminding of the performance that Guardiola’s men produced under pressure from los Blancos at the venue last season. Having seen their lead in La Liga whittled away by the capital’s finest, the Blaugrana responded with a quite breathtaking performance to record a 6-2 victory at the home of los Merengues.

Lionel Messi, who was described by Real defender Sergio Ramos this week as “fearsome”, struck twice that night, and it is virtually impossible to ignore the contribution the diminutive Argentine wizard makes to Barca. By no means the only world class player at Camp Nou, he does provide his side with something extra-special, as he has been showing so regularly of late. Against Arsenal on Tuesday, ‘El Mesias’ scored all of his side’s four goals.

Los Blancos know they cannot focus simply on Messi; they will have to produce a masterplan preventing Barcelona from retaining possession for such long periods and will also have to prevent the Catalans from penetrating when they do have the ball. Only close rivals Atletico Madrid have achieved three league points against Guardiola’s side this term, and it will take a gargantuan effort from Real if they are to replicate their neighbours.

FORM GUIDE

Real Madrid

WON 2-0 (a) Racing Santander (Liga, April 4)

WON 3-2 (h) Atletico Madrid (Liga, March 28)

WON 4-2 (a) Getafe (Liga, March 25)

WON 3-1 (h) Sporting de Gijon (Liga, March 20)

WON 4-1 (a) Real Valladolid (Liga, March 13)

Barcelona

WON 4-1 (h) Arsenal (Champions League, April 6)

WON 4-0 (h) Athletic Bilbao (Liga, April 3)

DREW 2-2 (a) Arsenal (Champions League, March 31)

WON 1-0 (h) Mallorca (a) (Liga, March 27)

WON 2-0 (h) Osasuna (Liga, March 24)

TEAM NEWS

Real Madrid

Los Blancos’ injury worries are starting to clear, with Royston Drenthe cleared to work outdoors on Thursday. There are concerns over the fitness of Xabi Alonso, who has received an ankle knock, while Kaka looks set to lose his battle against a strained adductor muscle and will be restricted to watching from the stands once more.

Probable Starting XI: Casillas; Ramos, Albiol, Garay, Arbeloa; Granero, Alonso, L. Diarra; Van der Vaart; Higuain, Ronaldo

Barcelona

Eric Abidal is definitely out for Barca after sustaining a problem in midweek, but both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gerard Pique have expressed hopes to be fit for Saturday’s match. Both men would appear to be significantly doubtful though.

Probable Starting XI: Valdes; Alves, Milito, Puyol, Abidal; Busquets, Xavi, Keita; Pedro, Messi, Iniesta

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s most expensive ever player, and if there is a time for a man given such a tag to shine, it is surely under the Bernabeu floodlights on Saturday evening. ‘CR9’ has enjoyed a prodigious scoring rate since signing from Manchester United in the summer but is starting to labour behind Lionel Messi in the ‘Greatest Player’ debate, so expect to see the Portuguese go out to eclipse Barca’s star man this weekend.

Barcelona

What more can be said about Lionel Messi after his four-goal haul in midweek? Achieved with style and panache, it says a great deal about the heights that this 22-year-old has scaled already in his career that he is being lauded by some as the best to ever play the game. A proven force in Clasico encounters, he struck twice at the Bernabeu last season after complementing Samuel Eto’o’s opener at Camp Nou earlier in the campaign.

PREDICTION

When Barca smacked los Blancos 6-2 last season, there was a great air of pre-match optimism around the Santiago Bernabeu after Real had reeled in their opponents point by point on the back of an outstanding winning run. There are parallels with this fixture, and after Pep Guardiola’s side made a very able Arsenal team look very ordinary in midweek, they will be hungry to prove a point to their rivals once again. Barca won’t win nearly so emphatically, but they should be fancied to pick up the three point jackpot in the capital, where their hosts have won all 14 of their league encounters to date.

Real Madrid 1-2 Barcelona