Barcelona playing for the lead, Madrid for the continuation of the Lopetegui project

A Clasico of the future

Posted Sunday, October 28, 2018 by Marca.com

The Camp Nou will see a Clasico of the future played out on its turf on Sunday, with Real Madrid taking on Barcelona in a game that has more intrigue surrounding what happens after it than what happens during.

This attention is primarily fixed on the Madrid bench, where Julen Lopetegui could sit for the last time as his future hangs so delicately in the balance and anything less than a win could see him dismissed.

Barcelona and Real Madrid meet with a lot on the line and defeat would push Los Blancos even further away from the top and, like last year, would be out of the title race at the first hurdle.

At the moment, the club's crisis has not yet been accepted as such but defeat to Barcelona would confirm the state the club is in as exactly that.

Madrid need to win to keep their chances alive and, in turn, throw all of the doubt that has hung over the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu onto Barcelona.

Cristiano Ronaldo's exit is the first step and Lionel Messi's absence will show Barcelona what life will be like after the Argentine moves on one day.

They know it is only a matter of time until they can no longer call on him.

The Champions League game against Inter helped the team to prove its credentials without Messi.

Barcelona's challenge

The greatest difficulty for the Catalans will be organising their defence and they have suffered at the back all season, though they surprisingly kept a clean sheet against Inter.

In attack, the question is who will occupy the void left by Messi?

Rafinha performed well in the Champions League and left a good impression on Valverde, but the coach may look for an option that helps control the attacking threat of Marcelo.

Marcelo himself will be key and in Dani Carvajal's absence he will carry an extra weight of responsibility on his side.