This afternoon, the stage is set. It needs no introduction. It’s the biggest game of our season so far and by far one of the biggest games on planet Earth. It’s El Clasico. This afternoon at 4:!5pm local time, live from the Estadi Olympic Lluis Companys, its Barca vs Real Madrid. Like I’ve just said, it is definitely the biggest game of our season so far.
With the slightest of margins separating the two teams as is stands, it looks already like a key fixture so early on in the season.
A quick look at our opponents:
In terms of our opponents for the game, Real Madrid, they’ve had a pretty steady start to the season. They didn’t make too many signings during the summer, apart from of course the man of the moment, Jude Bellingham. He really has settled in perfectly so far at Madrid, playing in almost a false 9 position. He’s come up with a lot of goals, point saving goals and people have said he could be seen as the replacement to Benzema. He of course has his flaws, and to expose them, we need to make sure we keep a good eye on him throughout the game. It isn’t going to be easy, but it’s definitely a challenge this team is capable of fighting against.
As for the rest of the team, Militao and Courtois are still out injured. But apart from that, they can field a pretty strong team. Which is a direct opposite to our situation. 5 key players are still on the fringes of returning, although everyone bar Roberto returned to training yesterday morning. This review is being written the night before the game, so it’ll be interesting to see who makes the cut in the squad list.
Predicted lineup:
The squad list at the time of writing hasn’t been released. However going off reports through you the day, it looks like we could be seeing at least Lewandowski and Raphinha return to the squad. For any game its a massive boost, and even more so for El Clasico. Frenkie may enter, but that would probably be through the use of injections.
To be honest, yes the game is very important. But if Frenkie, Pedri or Kounde aren’t 100% fit, then I don’t think its a great decision to rush them. Gavi is back in the squad after being rested during mid week through suspension. He is only one yellow card away from suspension in La liga however. And with Gil Manzano as referee, he’s going to have to be careful today. Fermin Lopez had an incredible game in midweek and has put himself well in contention to start the Clasico.
Iñigo Martínez also had a really solid game yet again against Shaktar. And me personally, because he’s left footed, i would start hum alongside Araujo. It just gives good balance to the back line. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Xavi possibly got for a 3 at the back. We are down to our bare bones, but its still going to be interesting to see how Xavi decides to line us up for the game. Time will tell.
My starting 11:
Ter Stegen
Cancelo- Araujo- Inigo- Balde
Gavi- Gundogan- Fermin
Yamal- Lewandowski- Felix
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