You can never have too much of a good thing. That can apply
to many things, but ask many football fans what they feel is a good thing and
Real Madrid v Barcelona is more likely to be answered with a resounding yes
than anything else, so the fact that we have 4 of them in the next month or so
is something to be truly savoured.
Once again, as is the case for nearly all of the league
games involving these two clubs this is the title decider. But over the 4
games, the seasons of two world giants will be decided. With the third game
deciding a trophy in itself, and the other two legs making up a Champions
League semi – final, this will be some epic.
Seeing as Madrid have home advantage, we’ll start there. One
of the most consistent teams in world football, their few defeats have proven
costly. They were workmanlike when defending a 4-0 lead (hardly the most taxing
of tasks I’m sure you’ll agree) against Tottenham.
The four clashes give Real boss Jose Mourinho ample
opportunity to avenge the shock of his first El Clasico - the 5-0 humiliation
to Barca back in November. It generally pays to look at recent history in the
El Clasico although I wouldn’t be reading the form of the latter named romp literally.
True, Madrid got a good beating but the red – card of Sergio Ramos and the Nou
Camp crowd may have had a big playing part.
In typical resilient style - a double over Spurs in the
Champions League, with a league win at Athletic Bilbao sandwiched in between –
Madrid are unbeaten since their loss at Sporting Gijon. While they’ve won well enough on all three
occasions (make note of the fact that they didn’t need to win on Wednesday) they’ve
been workmanlike on the one league start.
As far as trophies go, everything looks a lot simpler for
Barcelona. On an 11-match undefeated run - winning 10 - since losing to Arsenal
in their Champions League last-16 first leg back in February, the Catalan
giants may well seal another treble but they have their arch – rivals to negotiate
here.
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| Barcelona can seal La Liga in the Bernabeu |
They’ve been dominant in the last few meetings although
things will be vastly different here. Their away record, while still impeccable,
is fairly inferior to that of their record at Camp Nou. And they have scored
more than once in only one of their last five away matches, although that’s
easier to forgive when you see that they’ve played the likes of Shakhtar (not
been beaten at home in any competition since October 2008 - a run of 55 matches),
Europa League Semi – Finalists Villarreal, and Sevilla.
Another thing that must be touched upon is the speculation
that both bosses may be tempted to put out weakened sides at the Bernabeu given
Barca have an eight-point cushion in La Liga and the cup final four days later,
which makes no sense and seems unlikely given that The Special One might still
be able to save La Liga should he win here, while the Catalans have that all
important momentum to fight for. And just in case you forgot, it’s El Clasico.
As ever with these games, score betting is widely popular
and quotes of 8/13 and 4/6 are the only available (generally speaking) on overs
but the oddsmakers are being a bit stingy by generally giving 11/10 or 6/5, so
leave that aspect of things out.
Real are a best price of 9/5 to win this, which is fair
given that they are on a good run of form, but I find it hard to ignore recent
history or performances and Barcelona can settle La Liga once and for all by
doing Real Madrid for the third successive season by winning El Clasico at the
Bernabeu. Defeat here won’t be the end of the world for Madrid and a wide
margin win isn’t likely but they’ve got class and may be able to win by
pinning the midfield down.
Advice
3 pts Barcelona to beat Real Madrid (6/4 general)
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