El Clasico: Barcelona gear up for Real Madrid
The title will be decided, as it was last season, by which team prevails in Spain's two-match mini-league. History favours the home side for Monday's (the 29th) clash. In 25 years, Real Madrid has beaten Barcelona in
the Catalan capital three times. It took the legendary Quinta del Buitre, under the tutelage of Alfredo di Stefano, to do so in 1983. And it required the Galacticos of president Florentino Perez's first tenure to repeat the feat 20 years later. Four years
later, Julio Baptista gave Real a 1-0 victory in the club's last title-winning season.
It will take a team of similar calibre to win the day on this occasion, and Mourinho and Perez have constructed one. Real remains unbeaten in all competitions and is scoring freely while conceding just six goals in the league.
The blossoming of Marcelo and Pepe, and the purchase of veteran campaigner Ricardo Carvalho, has cured Real's Achilles heel, its defence.
But in spite of Real's ostentatious assembly, it's not accurate to label the match as one purely of cash versus craft. Barcelona's team of mostly home-grown talent was not cheaply convened. The likes of Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta
were taught their trade at La Masia, the most expensive finishing school in the world game, which operates on an annual budget similar to that of Almeria's. Neither do players such as Dani Alves, David Villa, Seydou Keita or Javier Mascherano arrive in Catalonia
for the cost of an airfare.
"I don't think there has ever been a Clasico with as much parity as this one," Diego Maradona told reporters when he sat in on a Real training session recently. "Barca is in a great moment and Mourinho's team is very solid. This
game will tip the balance in favour of which team will win the league. It will demonstrate the reliability of Mourinho and the playing style of Barcelona - the team that plays with most personality will win."
The two most highly regarded coaches of their generation, the two strongest teams in Europe on current form, and the two finest attacking players in the game: El Clasico promises to be a game worthy of its lavish publicity.
It might even prove to be the match of the century.
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