Sunday 23 March 2014

Real Madrid v Barcelona

It’s that time of year again. The second El Clasico has always been the deciding factor in the often two horse race that is La Liga and even with Atletico now making it a three way battle for the Spanish title, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have the chance to deliver a knockout blow to Barcelona’s title hopes with a win in the second El Clasico tonight.


Barcelona’s 2-1 win in the reverse fixture seemed to bring about all of Real’s old problems outside of Madrid, with that victory opening up a 6 point gap between Ancelotti’s men and the Catalans, but since then, astonishingly, they haven’t been beaten – that defeat took place at the end of October. In the interim, they have been held to just 6 draws, all of them away from the Bernabeu, and are still unbeaten at home or in Europe since that time.


With so many star players balance has been a problem for Madrid in recent seasons but with Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric amongst the most in form centre midfielders in Europe, the attacking foursome of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benezema, Gareth Bale and Angel Di Maria has had few equals going forward, with a tally of 77 league goals between them, just 3 behind Barcelona.


Benezema has been much maligned by certain sections of Madrid’s support but form and fitness are issues of the past and he has been instrumental in putting together attacking moves between Cristiano Ronaldo, who continues to defy belief on a weekly basis, and Gareth Bale, now living upto his pricetag with 17 assists and 15 goals. Angel Di Maria has also replaced Mezut Ozil in fine style, putting immense speed between midfield and attack that has been too much on many an occasion for most defences, as shown by 15 wins and just three draws since the last Clasico.


Barcelona’s latest stumble of just 5 wins from the last 10 league games leaves them dangerously perched going into tonight’s game; Win and they are neck and neck with Madrid but lose and the gap is seven points with time very short for the three results they would need to turn the gap.


At the Camp Nou they have been as good as ever, putting away Manchester City with ease while showing their prowess in wide margin wins against Almeria and Osasuna, but their form on the road against the elite has been their only Achilles heel and they are set to a top six league position, suffering defeats at Real Sociedad (3-1), Athletic Bilbao (1-0) and a 0-0 draw at Atletico.

Madrid have won only one of their last 6 clasicos at the Bernabeu but haven’t had such balance and form for some time and may be set up to contain the Neymar-Messi partnership while taking advantage of the attacking nature of Jordi Alba and Dani Alves on both wings where they must now face Bale and Ronaldo as a pairing. Madrid’s midfield setup now sees them dominate games far more, with Barcelona’s judge advantage in possession a key factor in many of their victories, but that could be turned on it’s head today, and even with a stronger defence than the outfits that turned up for defeats at Socidedad and Almeria, they look vulnerable against a side that have scored on at least two occasions in 12 of their 13 league games at home. The last seven Calsicos have seen both teams score and Barcelona are still well capable of getting their name on the scoresheet, so the 9/1 on a 2-1 win for the home side – with a cover for the opposite scoreline – is our preferred method.


Advice


1 pt Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona (9/1 general)



1 Real Madrid 1-2 Barcelona (12/1 general)
 

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