[ad_1]
El Clásico is always advertised as a box office hit. It is usually a thriller, occasionally a horror story for one of the two sides. But this Saturday, with 99,000 empty seats, it will feel more like a silent movie, and also very strange.
Rarely have both clubs entered the game with such confusion. Madrid are in pieces on the pitch after two of their worst performances with Zinedine Zidane. And Barcelona is in pieces with boardroom dramas a constant in the Catalan capital.
Madrid are also suffering off the pitch as they share Barcelona’s financial concerns. And not everything is perfect on the pitch for Barça, who failed last weekend away from Getafe, becoming the first matchday in which the two greats lost without scoring since 2000.
It was in May of the 1999-2000 season when Barça lost 2-0 to Rayo Vallecano while Real Madrid lost 1-0 to Alavés. The Classics of that season finished 3-0 at Real Madrid and 2-2. Deportivo won the league.
There is a feeling that “someone else” could win the league this season too if Madrid continue to stumble and Barcelona give in under the weight of the turmoil in the boardroom.
After losing 3-2 to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, Madrid media speculated on who would have been booed the most if the loss had come at a packed Santiago Bernabéu.
“Heading to the Europa League” read a sarcastic headline. In this group that may not be beyond the possibilities of Real Madrid.
A columnist accused Zidane of picking the team just by throwing oranges into the air and seeing where they land. Currently, the injuries of Eden Hazard and Martin Odegaard, which were to make a difference at the end of a summer marked by the absence of signings for the first time in 20 years, do not help him, but there has been an element of ‘luck’ to his XI with changes two-winged savages in a 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 no wingers
On Wednesday night he benched Vinicius and Benzema despite the fact that Madrid was missing their captain at the other end of the field.
Much was said about the chaos that always occurs when Sergio Ramos is missing and it is true that Madrid have lost without him to Manchester City and Ajax, Juventus and PSG but he was there in the first half last weekend and it was his mistake that led to the goal of Cádiz, so it is not just that an important player is missing.
Barcelona’s problems in the field seem much less. What to do with Griezmann is currently Koeman’s biggest headache. How Madrid would love to have the French on their team. The cast of a thousand forwards of Barcelona (Messi, Ansu Fati, Dembélé, Pedri, Francisco Trincao) could lack a center forward, but it surpasses the depleted Madrid company at the moment.
That is the most surprising thing about this team from Madrid: there is nothing to excite and nothing to trust. At this juncture, Hazard and Luka Jovic’s 163 million pounds (180 million euros) appear to have been money badly spent.
Young Brazilians Vinicius and Rodrigo Goes are not making enough progress with Zinedine Zidane and with Marco Asensio unable to make a constant impact in matches, it is a Madrid side that no longer scares rival defenses.
While things are not so bad on the pitch for Barcelona, outside of it, the club continues to stumble from one drama to another. A revenue shortfall of £ 271 million (€ 300 million) is projected this season that can only be addressed through large cuts in the wage bill.
The tactic of persuading players to actually receive the same amount of money but for a longer period has worked with Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Piqué, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Clement Lenglet, who have extended contracts, but no, until now, with others.
Meanwhile, a petition to force a referendum on whether the board should be able to see its term until March 2021, one that needed 16,500 names, brought together more than 20,000.
Only the problems of how to organize the referendum during a pandemic can now delay the expulsion of the president before December with elections in January.
Madrid are not showing the same obvious signs of chaos, but they are also preparing for a huge drop in revenue.
The big two in Spain make more money from football tourism and packed stadiums than possibly any club in Europe and nothing like a Clasico behind closed doors will remind them of what they are currently missing.
Never before had the game been held without fans, all the moans from the technical area will be heard. Koeman only knows about playing against Madrid. He was victorious six times with three draws and five losses during his career.
Zinedine Zidane has never lost at the Camp Nou as a manager with two wins and three draws to date. His position will be under greater scrutiny than ever if he escapes us this time.
A mild campaign around Raúl, Real Madrid Castilla coach, as his pending replacement, has already started to pick up speed. He will find another march on Saturday if Real Madrid lose the strangest Clásico.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
[ad_2]
