Real Madrid, Barcelona battle for top spot in 279th El Clasico

Real Madrid and Barcelona face off in the 279th (246th competitive) edition of El Clasico, club football’s greatest rivalry, in the Spanish La Liga on Saturday night. Real Madrid, the current champions and most successful Spanish club with 34 league titles, are presently third and two points behind Barcelona, their sworn enemies who are just one point behind Atletico Madrid, the league leaders.

Both clubs are presently on unbeaten streaks. Barcelona enjoy a 19-match run while Real Madrid have not lost in nine and have just one defeat in 19 games to cut Atletico’s commanding lead to mincemeat.

These arch-rivals have however had to face embarrassing situations and defeats earlier in the season — Real Madrid lost at home to Cadiz and Alaves while Barca lost to Getafe and were also humbled by Cadiz — before this newfound form on both sides.

While Real Madrid comfortably won 3-1 at Camp Nou in October, below are some factors that could influence the clash at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium.

Pragmatism

Real Madrid players have suffered over 50 injuries this season exemplified by the continued absence of Eden Hazard. Both captain Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, his defensive partner, will not feature this weekend for the champions who had only 13 outfield players fit at some point, a situation that affected results.

However, Zinedine Zidane’s astute man-management and pragmatic coaching style of preparing his team to nullify the opponent’s threat has revitalized Los Merengues who were on the cusp of fading away from their title challenge.

Barcelona, on the other hand, have overcome bad publicity with which they started the season amidst Messi’s intention to leave and out-of-form players. Ronald Koeman, their coach, has had his coaching abilities questioned — just like Zidane — but the Dutch coach has relied on strange formations and selections — like using Frenkie de Jong at center-back — on the way to the club’s 19-match run, winning the past six games.

Will these newfound tactics be thrown out of the window for the biggest game in the club’s calendar or maintained to get at least a point? Barcelona will surely settle for the latter while Real Madrid could go for the jugular although they would have to find a way past Koeman’s side, again.

El Clasico Experience

There are still players in both teams that know what El Clasico is about and can change games in an instant. Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are stalwarts for Barca. Similarly, the midfield trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric and Karim Benzema. While Benzema knows what it takes to outwit the Catalonians’ defence, Messi would definitely be a problem for the hosts.

Real Madrid also have the core of players that had battled Barcelona for the better part of the last decade while Barcelona are building a new team that lacks much experience in the biggest and tempestuous football rivalry.

Indeed Real Madrid have not lost the past three encounters, coinciding with Zidane’s return to the capital club and this core could prove the difference again on Saturday.

Big-game Performance

Barcelona have been heavily criticized this season for their lack of performance when facing clubs with an array of stars or in a final, even when Lionel Messi plays. Since their 8-2 shellacking by Bayern Munich, Koeman has failed to win six of seven big matches this season, prevailing only against Juventus’ rag-tag side but losing the Spanish Super Cup final to Athletic Bilbao in spectacular fashion. They were also humiliated 4-1 by Paris Saint Germain at the Camp Nou and eliminated from the UCL.

In contrast, Real Madrid, under Zidane this season, always find the extra motivation especially against the big boys at home or in Europe. Their only blemish in eight matches was a 2-1 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the Super Cup semi-final. They recently resurrected their European campaign, had the better of Liverpool in the UCL quarter-final first-leg and a win against Barcelona should not be out of reach for their 48-year-old French coach and his trusted lieutenants.

Tonight’s clash could also influence the LaLiga title race, with the victor set to take the top spot in the league from Atletico Madrid who will take on Real Betis 24 hours later.