LaLiga: Barcelona and Real Madrid enter a Classic without fans after a defeat from another crisis

There have been many marketing activities around El Clásico on Saturday afternoon. There have been installations all over the world, former LaLiga players (now ambassadors) have talked about the game. Like the president of the league, Javier Tebas. It is arguably the most important soccer game if you think about the television audience. The English Premier League, with all its might and staggering numbers, still cannot match Barcelona vs Real Madrid. The match attracted millions in the past and is expected to increase in the face of the pandemic with no fans allowed at Camp Nou.

A Camp Nou with 99,000 seats would be empty for a Classic. A spectacle, a sports extravaganza reduced to “one more game”. A phrase that is used so often in sports and yet loses meaning for a Classic. Even for a Classic like that.

“The Classical is still the Classical. For the league it is another game, but because of the intrigue and international appeal, they are the two biggest clubs in the world face to face. It is still the most important club match in the world,” said Tebas. in an interview with AFP.

Historically and by appeal, they might be the two biggest clubs in the world, but their current shape and appeal is a reflection of what they were. Perhaps the presence of the fans would have made this a spectacle because football can be abject at times.

Let’s take the hosts from Barcelona first. They have a new manager in Ronald Koeman. Lionel Messi did his best to get out but he stands by by virtue of his record with the club rather than a promise to make it one more time. The transfer business saw multiple embarrassing situations. It’s only his eight weeks off the field. As if that were not enough, the Barcelona captains (Messi, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto) would have sent a letter to the president Josep Bartomeu, who faces a vote of no confidence, and to the members of the board in which they describe their pay cut process. speaks as “embarrassing”.

In the field, things have been uneven. Comfortable victories against Villarreal, Celta de Vigo has been followed by a draw with Sevilla – not the worst result but the performance left much to be desired – the defeat against Getafe last week and a midweek win in the Champions League. against the Ferencvaros. However, to put it in context, a victory over a Hungarian club that regularly does not play in Europe’s top-level competition should not divert attention from Barca’s problems on the pitch.

Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest occupy the left and right wing respectively, or they should, but they tend to move towards a congested midfield of Frenkie de Jong, Busquets, Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann, Ansu Fati and Messi. Almost all Barcelona players in this setup tend to compact the pitch rather than the tried and tested strategy that earned them multiple trophies with Pep Guardiola.

Then there is the curious case of Griezmann. The Frenchman has not scored since July, so there are eight games without a goal. The same cannot be said when he shows up for the French national team. He has scored three goals for The Blues in four games and shot Koeman after beating Croatia. “The coach knows where to put me,” Griezmann said of French coach Didier Deschamps in an interview with TF1. “I take advantage of this situation, this place, the confidence of the coach and my teammates.”

Griezmann has started all four league games with Barcelona, ​​but did not play against Ferencvaros. Koeman didn’t dwell on the possibility of Antoine starting and, more importantly, where on the field. It remains to be seen how Koeman plays his first Clásico as a Barça coach.

Chaos at Real Madrid

Real Madrid leaked three goals against Shakhtar Donetsk and one against Cádiz in consecutive defeats. AP

If Barcelona made two signings in the transfer window, Real Madrid made none. For the first time in 40 years, the club that created the ‘Galactic’ policy did not bring in anyone due to financial difficulties caused by the pandemic.

In the field, it is chaos (too). “Every day worse“read based in Madrid BrandThursday’s headline. “Blush” He said HOW. “Worse every day” and “embarrassing” with an image of Thibaut Courtois collecting the ball from the back of the net. And he had to do that three times in a matter of 13 minutes on Wednesday.

A catastrophic performance in the first half allowed a coronavirus-stricken Shakhtar Donetsk to score three goals against Real Madrid at the Alfredo di Stefano Champions League Stadium. To put that in perspective, Real conceded as many goals in 13 minutes as in the nine games since the restart that they effectively beat them the league in July.

The abject performance against Shakhtar came days after an equally poor performance against Cádiz. The newly promoted team created most of the opportunities, but only won 1-0 in the end.

Zinedine Zidane downplayed that this was the most difficult period of his tenure as the club’s coach. But I would breathe easier knowing that captain Sergio Ramos is fit to play against Barcelona.

“He is our captain, our leader. He is over his injury, but obviously we will not take any risks. He will be with us, you need players who are 100 percent and Sergio is, ”Zidane said on Friday.

For Real, the challenge since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure has been to create goals while the defense has held firm. In the league’s winning season, Los Blancos missed just 25 goals, the best in the division, with 18 clean sheets. Against Cádiz and Shakhtar, the defense was at six and seven with the two centrals unable to hold their line.

It could be argued that it is due to injuries in the Madrid field. Dani Carvajal and Álvaro Odriozola, right-backs, are injured, which forced Ferland Mendy, a natural left-hander, to play as a right-back against the Ukrainian club. Marcelo, not the best of the defenders, occupied the position of left back with Eder Militao and Raphael Varane playing central.

With Ramos scheduled to come in after his knee problems, he reestablishes the first-choice pair in the center back. The challenge will be on the right where Nacho Fernández could enter but does not inspire much confidence. Another option would be to play Lucas Vázquez in that role, but the offensive-minded Spaniard could expose a fragile defense against Barcelona’s strong left wing.

Problems continue higher up the field with Eden Hazard and Martin Odegaard, both injured as well. Once again, the question arises: where will the goals come from?

Karim Benzema is the first candidate and a definitive starter for the Clásico. After filtering goals and opportunities in the last two games, Zidane could go for a 4-4-2 setup with Casemiro, Federico Valverde, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, all filling the midfield to control play in midfield. That leads to the Zizou situation: should Benzema play alongside a Luka Jovic, who lacks confidence but can fight his way into the box, or a Vinicius Jr. who can run against defenders but allows gaps to emerge every time forward adventure? .

Under normal circumstances, no club dares to lose the Classic. It is a decisive result in the grand scheme of things. But with both clubs one defeat from a ‘crisis’, avoiding defeat becomes more important than three points. That said, it wouldn’t be a surprise if both managers were content with a draw.

El Clásico: Barcelona vs Real Madrid starts at 7.30pm IST on Saturday.