El Clasico preview: FC Barcelona – Real Madrid (Part 2)
Team News
FC Barcelona
Argentine defender Gabriel Milito will not make the squad as he is struggling with an injury while Eric Abidal’s inclusion is also under clouds. The rest of the squad and all key players will be raring to go.
Expected Formation
Pep Guardiola has no reason to tinker with a 4-3-3 formation that has become Blaugnara’s hallmark. Lionel Messi will start in a striker’s role but the little Argentine fireball will move around the final third terrorising the Madrid defence.
Young Pedro will line up on the right while David Villa will start on the flank. The front trio will be continuously switching positions in a bid to disrupt the Madrid rearguard. Xavi and Iniesta will be the two man creative machine in the midfield while owing
much to his superior technical ability; Sergio Busquets will get the nod ahead of Mascherano. Gerrard Pique and Carlos Puyol will start in the heart of the defence while Abidal and Dani Alves will look to support from the flanks.
Probable Line up
Victor Valdes, Dani Alves, Carlos Puyol, Gerrard Pique, Eric Abidal, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Pedro and David Villa.
Real Madrid
Jose Mourinho will need to do without the likes of Kaka and Fernando Gago. Ricardo Carvalho, Sami Khedira and Gonzalo Higuain have all overcome minor knocks to be named in the squad.
Expected Formation
Anticipating Mourinho’s tactics takes a genius to guess but we will try nonetheless. The Portuguese wizard will line up his troops in a 4-3-1-2 formation with Ronaldo and Higuain leading the line. Mesut Ozil will start in the trequartista
roe – a position he was born to play – while Khedira and Di Maria will start on the right and left of midfield respectively. Di Maria will be playing more of a defensive role as the mercurial Messi has to be controlled. Di Maria has searing amounts of pace
stored in his legs and that will be used to counter the jinking runs of Lionel Messi. In defence, Marcelo and Sergio Ramos will take the flanks while Pepe and Carvalho will for a Portuguese centre back pairing. It goes without saying, Iker Casillas will be
keep the gloves and will be the first name on team sheet.
Probable Line up
Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Marcelo, Sami Khedira, Xabi Alonso, Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain.
Key Players
Lionel Messi
It has to be him. The 23 year old sensation has scored 7 El Clasico goals in a short career to date and will look to add further to his tally. Blaugnara number 10 has already scored 15 goals this season while assisting in five others.
Should Madrid defence fall asleep for even a second, the messiah will make them pay dearly.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Who else could it be? – Galacticos answer to Messi albeit one that cost them 80 million pounds. Ronaldo has been in devastating form this season and it will take mammoth efforts to stop the raging machine. CR7 tends to take on entire defences
on his own and release his teammates into space. The likes of Di Maria, Higuain and Ozil in particular will relish the space created by the Portugal captain
Prediction
El Clasico is almost impossible to predict. With 22 world-class players gracing the pitch, a moment of genius from any player will decide the tie. Blaugnara play at their fortress but their defence has been far from impressive. Gerrard
Pique in particular has clearly struggled in the build up to this match. Mourinho will manage to keep his unbeaten record intact with yet another victory. Real Madrid to edge the tie by a 2 – 1 score line!
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