El Clasico time again...the chess board is ready

We are just 24 hours away from the 158th edition of the El Clasico, the match entire Europe looks forward to every year. No derby match in world football can match up to the intensity and tomorrow the result is as important as it can get. I have only talked to people who mostly hate Real Madrid, for some reason or the other. I was talking to one of my Red Devils supporter friends today and he mentioned to me that Madrid are due a lot of credit on how they have performed since January. I may have mentioned this in one of my earlier posts , the Champions League upset yet again in the first knock round to Liverpool was for sure a disgrace but Real have for sure fought hard in the Spanish League. In December we saw the first edition of the El Clasico and it was the second game that Juande Ramos was in charge of. He tactically survived for almost 83 minutes even though he only had an injury plagued thin roster to pick from before the pressure got the better of the Whites.

This meant that Barcelona were 12 points ahead in the league and it was curtains as per the experts on all the articles that i read. To a certain extend i was also one of those guys who thought it will be a big ask for the ever fighting Real Madrid to overcome. With last weeks hard fought match against Sevilla, and Barca able to salvage only a draw at Valencia meant that Real Madrid cut the point difference down to 4 points. It has for sure not been easy, if statistics were to be checked, since January Real Madrid are unbeaten and have won 17 games. It has been such a splendid 4 months that the rest of the teams in the table are no where to be seen. Second placed Real Madrid have 78 points and the third placed Sevilla are 21 points adrift.

Barcelona come into the match tomorrow having played out a tough and physical midweek Champions League encounter against Chelsea. There has been a lot of criticism from the Barcelona players stating that Chelsea parked the bus in front of their goal. The only problem for Barcelona is that they can complain all that they want but they are left with not just the physical marks and bruises from the match when they go into the El Clasico but they also have to worry about the return leg.

Madrid have their issues as well, and it will be a lot to do with how they play it out strategically in their mind before they step on to the Bernabeu pitch. Guti and Sneijder out with injury while on the negative, the flying Dutchman Robben is back to training normally and could start. There would be a lot of interesting one-one confrontations on the pitch. The winning of these confrontations could very well be the difference between winning and losing the match.

Juande Ramos has Pepe suspended for the remainder of this season and 4 games next season as well, which means he would have to play Metzelder again. One funny point on the German International is that he has only made 5 starts this season but still would end up having played in both the titanic clashes. He played well, the first time these two teams met and also looked confident last week against Sevilla. One thing as clear as day light is that Barca cant be stopped unless Messi is stopped. The problem is Juande Ramos have to pick between Marcelo and Heinze to take the LB position. The coach would prefer to have Marcelo on the left side of midfield, and hope the young Brazilian keeps on with his scoring stint and also would give him some extra cover in keeping Dani Alves in check. Gago might actually struggle against the quick and innovative Iniesta. The Argentine had some good games once Diarra was injured but has seen his form slump in the past few games and have been saved more than once by the superb Lass. Xavi the other key component of the Barca midfield engine might find it difficult to direct traffic with Lassana Diarra most likely employed in a man marking role.

Madrid have a real chance of winning the match and taking La Liga to a heart pounding 4 more weeks. Guardiola would need to know when to take off some of his key players as there are going to be some really strong tackles flying around. He cannot afford to have injuries when his troops make the mid week trip to London. Real Madrid cannot afford to slip up, as anything less than that would mean the title race is over. I have a feeling Juande Ramos would play Salgado at RB and have Sergio Ramos at LB to mark Messi, because if he is going to leave Heinze out there to do the job, its one self destruct button pressed already.

Last season the same encounter saw Barca having to go through the humiliation of giving a guard of honor and also the humiliation of the 4-1 defeat that followed. All the that plus the frustration from not being able to play their free flowing football against Chelsea could mean they come out all guns blazing. Finally it may not be about the points and the title at stake, an El Clasico is the game of the year, the Clasico of the world which could break or make heroes.