El Clásico/La Liga Jornada 12 thread

The date has been set - Sunday November 29th, 7 pm

After suffering the humiliation of doing the "pasillo" and subsequently getting spanked in the Bernabeu, Barcelona responded last season with the 2-6 Bernabeu slaughter. This season both teams look to be on a more similar level - showing significant strengths and weaknesses (the latter is specially in Real Madrid's case). While Real Madrid gained some momentum after Raul was finally benched, there was still the embarassment of only managing to beat Alcorcon 1-0 at home and going out of the Copa.

An interesting change in this matchup in recent times has been that both teams have become more prone to losing against each other when playing at home. Before the new century it was rare for this to happen, but in the last 8 years Barcelona has lost against Real Madrid 3 times in the Camp Nou (twice in the league and once in the CL), while Madrid has suffered the same fate in the Bernabeu (all 3 times in the league).

At the moment it seems that Barcelona may have some major injury problems given that Ibrahimovic is doubtful while swine flu has apparently hit the dressing room (Toure and Abidal have been confirmed to have it, while Marquez may have caught it). However, it's likely that all 4 players will make the clasico. It must be said though that Barcelona have a much tougher match than Madrid in midweek, being forced to beat Inter to ensure they continue in the CL.

On Wednesday against Zurich Real Madrid will finally see the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, after nearly 2 months of being in the sidelines. Supposedly the plan is to have him come in the second half to get some minutes and then start against Barcelona on Sunday. We'll see if that works out. Currently Lass, Guti, Van Nistelroy, and Albiol have small injuries, but they should be ready for Sunday as well.

So, will Real Madrid gain revenge for last season? Will we see another Barcelona slaughter in the Camp Nou? Could we get the freak result of an actual draw? (which rarely happens in a clasico)

1999-2000 Barcelona 2 Real Madrid 2 Rivaldo, Figo; Raul (2)
2000-2001 Barcelona 2 Real Madrid 0 Luis Enrique, Simao
2001-2002 Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 1 Xavi; Zidane
2002-2003 Barcelona 0 Real Madrid 0
2003-2004 Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 2 Kluivert; Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo
2004-2005 Barcelona 3 Real Madrid 0 Eto'o, v. Bronckhorst, Ronaldinho
2005-2006 Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 1 Ronaldinho; Ronaldo
2006-2007 Barcelona 3 Real Madrid 3 Messi (3); v. Nistelrooy (2), S. Ramos
2007-2008 Barcelona 0 Real Madrid 1 Julio Baptista
2008-2009 Barcelona 2 Real Madrid 0 Eto'o, Messi

Not a bad record in the Camp Nou over the last decade.

I knew you would post the results! I was too lazy to look them up

Didn't realize we drew 4 times though, I'd forgotten the 1-1 heroics with 10 men and Ronaldo making a fool out of Puyol

Torrente wrote:I knew you would post the results! I was too lazy to look them up

Didn't realize we drew 4 times though, I'd forgotten the 1-1 heroics with 10 men and Ronaldo making a fool out of Puyol

What can I say, I am a wannabe historian.

It also reminds me, as sh!t as Baptista was for us overall, he played two immense games in the Camp Nou. He gave the assist to Ronaldo that year and then scored the winner in Schuster's first year.

Of course I want a victory and if we are full strength then I think it should be possible. However, if the flu catches a few more players then it could get complicated. However, I dont want to use the mid game as an excuse. Players should be able to cope for shorter periods of time.

So I would say a 2-0 or 3-1 game..

True, Baptista showed plenty of flashes of brilliance but he was unbelievably inconsistent.

And btw, it was Abidal who has the swine flu, not Keita. Corrected in the post.

But Abidal is out for sure anyway I think.. Got injured with France.. so prepare for some alternative passing from Maxwell.. :S

Any word on Zlatan being fit for the match?

No... nothing but the rumours.. special programme bla bla bla.. and he will not be risked unless fully fit (which makes sense).

I still hope to see him fit for the Inter match but that might be overly optimistic.

Guasch:

Abidal y Touré tienen la gripe A

Lamentable: ¿no la podían tener Xavi, Iniesta y Messi?

luckily he is lone lunatic (well apart from a couple of others on AS)

As of now I expect a draw. 1-1, 2-2, something like that. With Pellegrini as the coach, and mostly new players at Madrid, the "morbo" level is not that high yet. Plus it still feels early in the season, so I reckon both sides would settle for a draw if it came to that.

Si fuerzan a Messi contra el Madrid lo pueden romper

El 10 debería reposar entre 8 y 10 días, lo que le descarta para este martes ante el Inter y el próximo domingo ante el Real Madrid.

Messi sufre una "lesión de grado uno en el adductor de la pierna izquierda" que en principio debería dejarle fuera de los compromisos del Barcelona de esta semana ante el Inter, en Champions, y el Real Madrid, en Liga.

"No se descarta su participación para el partido del martes -el del Inter-", según el parte médico del club, pero lo cierto es que, tal y como publica este lunes el diaro MARCA, el astro argentino corre un alto riesgo de romperse en caso de jugar.

En una información de nuestro compañero Luis F. Rojo, será Guardiola el que tendrá que asumir la decisión final de contar o no con su estrella. Algo que no resultará fácil, ya que el riesgo de recaída de Messi es alto e, independientemente de cómo evolucione el futbolista, está claro que si juega frente al Inter no estará al cien por cien.

http://www.marca.com/2009/11/23/futbol/equipos/barcelona/1258965508.html

Ibrahimovic: "Ganaremos el derbi, y será por goleada"

What a conte! Already hate him!

Guti tiene una pequeña rotura fibrilar y se pierde el Clásico

Guti sufre una pequeña rotura fibrilar en el cuádriceps de la pierna izquierda que le hará ser baja para el Clásico.

El diario MARCA informa que el futbolista acudió el lunes a la clínica Sanitas de La Moraleja para someterse a una prueba y confirmar la gravedad de la lesíon.

Después de cinco días trabajando al margen del grupo, el lunes se decidió que pasara una resonancia, ya que todavía tenía sangre en el cuádriceps y era difícil dictaminar el tipo de lesión. Se habló de una fuerte contusión, pero parece que tiene algo más.

http://www.marca.com/2009/11/25/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1259136799.html

So I wonder now if the cules' attitude has changed after the match with Inter. Will kas and Messiah still be moaning about their 'short' squad and how they will 'settle' for a draw?

Pep: "Sólo faltaría que el Madrid no fuese líder. Gastó 270 millones"

Already making excuses...

As a "reenactment" of Sunday's clasico, Benzema beat Xavi in FIFA 2010 3-0! All three goals were by Ronaldo, with 2 Benzema assists

Suck on that cules!

Jaime wrote:Pep: "Sólo faltaría que el Madrid no fuese líder. Gastó 270 millones"

Already making excuses...

What would be Madrid's excuse for another humiliation (if it happens).

Dualist wrote:

Jaime wrote:Pep: "Sólo faltaría que el Madrid no fuese líder. Gastó 270 millones"

Already making excuses...

What would be Madrid's excuse for another humiliation (if it happens).

That we simply aren't good enough yet to compete with other big teams which isn't that strange considering all the changes but some of the problems is also selfinflicted and aren't related to all those new players.

Super Higuain wrote:but some of the problems is also selfinflicted and aren't related to all those new players.

Yes.

5 months is a good amount of time to get it right with the current set of players. IMO.

Sooooo... looking forward to the big game Ronaldo FC vs Messilona.

Whos going to win?

Dualist wrote:

Super Higuain wrote:but some of the problems is also selfinflicted and aren't related to all those new players.

Yes.

5 months is a good amount of time to get it right with the current set of players. IMO.

Im not really sure what getting it right means and I don't really like putting specific time tables on every team. This work in progress is different from team to team depending on different variables like how experienced is the defence,the midfield, the attack, finding the right formation, balance between young and new, internal problems certain players having divine right to play(Raul) and problems the president and sportsdirector medling to much with coaches job. And in Madrid's case you have the Madrid press which is a nuisance for the club and prevents it from having any peace to build.

The basic problem we have at Real Madrid is we have bought very direct players for a coach who plays indirect football. So at the fundamental we have problems which is why I was very concerned this summer how it would work out. The solution will of course be some middleground but we have to reach it quick because of the internal(Perez+board) and external(Media) pressure.

Visca Barca
Visca Catalunya
Catalunya Liure



According to Cruijff, Barca plays a 1000 times better then Real Madrid!

He is the coach of Catalunya after all.

I didn't word it properly. It seems to be a 'circus' with a coach (Pellegrini) with no hands-on experience of managing big clubs. He seems too flexible for the wrong reasons. Letting players have their own in whatever formation he opts to play. The hardworking ones, like Lass or Alonso invariably do well. When you hold possession, it lacks conviction and penetration. Actually I don't see a proper vision in your team play. This is okay at Villarreal where you have freedom to revamp the whole system to your style. Madrid already have international players and I see no reason why a consensus could be reached between his style and these supposedly 'direct' players. At least, a semblance of 'style' or 'direction' in team play. If you think this is unfounded, could you suggest a game where the attacking game was visibly coherent.

Dualist wrote:I didn't word it properly. It seems to be a 'circus' with a coach (Pellegrini) with no hands-on experience of managing big clubs. He seems too flexible for the wrong reasons. Letting players have their own in whatever formation he opts to play. The hardworking ones, like Lass or Alonso invariably do well. When you hold possession, it lacks conviction and penetration. Actually I don't see a proper vision in your team play. This is okay at Villarreal where you have freedom to revamp the whole system to your style. Madrid already have international players and I see no reason why a consensus could be reached between his style and these supposedly 'direct' players. At least, a semblance of 'style' or 'direction' in team play. If you think this is unfounded, could you suggest a game where the attacking game was visibly coherent.

I don't believe Pellegrini's problem is that he hasn't managed a big club. Rather it is that I doubt he has that much authority over the stars and with the traditions of the club the players know who will get the blame in the papers and it seems Perez has given promision to Marca to put it on Pellegrini. Perez has shown before that he works in a machiavellian way.

Well the Milan away game was probably our best game for a long time. At least the first half. We kept the ball better then we had for a long time and we pressured well and we didn't have trouble passing through the lines. We lacked the last ball because Higuain and Benzema don't make good enough runs in the last third but we had a foundation we should have built on but instead we went away from the 4-2-3-1 and are now playing 4-3-1-2 which hasn't that well imo.

What I meant with finding a middleground is that if we are going to have Kaka and Ronaldo then we need Granero or somebody like him that can keep the ball and change the tempo at the right time.

Ideally this is how we would play:


Ramos----Pepe---Abiol----Arbeloa(big games)/Marcelon


------------Lassana------Alonso-------------

--Granero/Higuain---Kaka-------Ronaldo------

-------------Benzema/Higuain----------------

Jaime wrote:Pep: "Sólo faltaría que el Madrid no fuese líder. Gastó 270 millones"

Already making excuses...

Disappointing. Expected to see Franco being mentioned.

In any case we have Alejandro Echevarría to hit back with.

Barça 6-4 Real Madrid
Could be the first of three epic matches culminating in the ultimate one in CL Final at the Santiago Bernabeu for all the marbles. Imagine winning that game.

The GREATEST, BIGGEST MATCH IN CLUB FOOTBALL BY FAR!
BARCELONA - REAL MADRID
FFS!