Real Madrid are feeling vengeful. Their last defeat was 31 games ago against Barcelona at Camp Nou. Carlo Ancelotti’s side fell six points behind Barca after that 2-0 October result, but they have since recovered from a poor start to the season to move four points clear of their main rivals.
That could increase to seven with nine games to play if they can win tonight at home.
“The timing couldn’t be much better, we’re top of the table – little by little we’ve managed to climb up into pole position,” said veteran goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who played his first Clasico in February 2000.
Barca are inconsistent. They have scored 27 times in their past seven league games, but won only four and lost three of those encounters. When they are good they are unbeatable, when they are bad they lose, though their players are talking the talk about Sunday’s Clasico, a game Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta describes as “all out war”.
“Now we have a hard game, but also a great one,” said Iniesta, a star of the last Clasico, who set up Barca’s first goal with a pass that cut out three opponents.
“We have to go all out to win,” he told the Cadena Ser radio station. “We wanted to go into the game with good vibes; now we believe that we can win at the Bernabeu.”
He could hardly say anything different and Barcelona have the players capable of beating any team. On Sunday, they are unaccustomed underdogs for, unlike Barca, Madrid have been winning games relentlessly even when playing poorly.
When they have been good they have been very, very good, as Schalke experienced in a 9-2 aggregate Champions League defeat. The feted forward trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema scored eight of the nine goals in that tie.
There is a pleasing chemistry among the triumvirate, but midfielder Xabi Alonso thinks quality is the key.
“There’s no secret, they’re just good players that have an understanding with each other; they are decisive, score many goals and provide a lot of assists,” Alonso told BWin.
The three have scored 50 Madrid league goals between them this season, plus 27 more in other competitive club games. If they keep up this rate they will score 100 goals before the season’s end.
Barca’s principal front three of Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez and Pedro have 49 in the league and a further 19 in other competitions, though it is probable that two won’t even start on Sunday, with Cesc Fabregas and Neymar alongside Messi.
A single goal will do to settle the Clasico though and the build up has been as partisan as expected.
“Decima?” asked one Catalan daily of Madrid’s obsession with winning a 10th European Cup. “Is that nine for the number of times Cristiano Ronaldo has lost for Madrid against Barcelona, plus one for the number of times Ancelotti has beaten Barca in seven attempts as a coach?”
Statistics are used to prove anything in Clasicos.
The Madrid media retorted with their own claims to belittle and antagonise, stating that Messi is after a €25 million-a-year (Dh126m) contract. Media in both cities act as cheerleaders for their respective clubs.
Yet while Iniesta calls the Clasico “war” – and relations between the clubs were appalling when Jose Mourinho was coach in Madrid – there is a pleasing human aspect.
Iniesta’s wife recently lost their baby while seven months pregnant. Among the first to offer their condolences were players from Real Madrid.
“Some things are more important than a football match,” said Iniesta. They are, but it won’t seem like that in Madrid on Sunday night.
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