Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Saturday Evening sees arguably the biggest club game in world Football as Barcelona play host to Real Madrid in the second La Liga ‘El Clasico’ of the season.
These games usually have a lot more needle to them due to a closer proximity in the table between the two sides but with Barcelona an almost uncatchable 10 points clear over their most fiercest of rivals the game isn’t quite the cauldron of pre-match hype that it usually tends to be.
That said Real Madrid certainly won’t be taking this game any lighter than usual, defeat for them would all but kill off any faint hopes they had of getting back into this season’s title race. Bluntly speaking it’s win or bust for Zinedine Zidane’s side on Saturday Evening.
Although the points gap is 10 you will have to factor in the result of the previous El Clasico in which Barcelona ran riot in The Bernabeu to record a 4-0 victory. That is as good as an extra point unless Los Blancos can pull off an incredible 5-0 win and get themselves on the head to head record.
With Real already out of the Spanish Cup due to disqualification and the title all but in Barcelona’s hands you wouldn’t blame Zinedine Zidane for perhaps putting more focus on the Champions League and trying to deliver the clubs 11th success in the competition.
Defeat at the Nou Camp on Saturday and it would almost certainly be the case for the rest of the season. Their opponents Barcelona aren’t worrying about where to apply their focus, they are still competing on all fronts and you wouldn’t bet against them repeating the treble of last season
They have been in simply scintillating form as of late, well not just of late for an incredibly long time now. Unbeaten now for 39 matches in all competitions which in itself is a new Spanish record, if they can overcome the hurdle of Real then there is no reason why they then can’t beat what is thought to be the European wide record of 45 matches set by Dinamo Zagreb during 2014-15
The usual La Liga Pichichi race is taking a different dimension this season as instead of a straight shootout between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, this season it seems to be Ronaldo versus Luis Suarez. Ronaldo has the edge with 28 goals to Suarez’s 26. Will Ronaldo be more concerned with personal triumph over that of the team.
Ronaldo may be top of Pichichi charts at the moment but it’s the Barcelona cast as a whole which has made the difference. The MSN of Messi, Suarez and Neymar have all chipped in with over 20 league goals this campaign
In terms of club goals in La Liga Real just edge it with 87 scored to Barcelona’s 86 but it’s fair to say that Real have been flat track bullies against lesser opposition and failed to turn up when it really matters. While Barcelona have been relentless in attack all season no matter who they go up against.
Real are going to have to pull out something special if they are to win this encounter. With the form that Barcelona are in I personally can’t see this happening. The MSN will get the better of the BBC and it will be the fatal blow in Real’s title hunt. Home win for me.
