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***El Classico - Real Madrid vs Barcelona - Official Thread***

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Boab

Boab 73

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El Clásico is often the highlight of the Spanish season, but Saturday's clash carries more weight than usual.

Real Madrid sit just four points behind Barcelona in La Liga and a victory for Juande Ramos' men would blow the title race wide open. However, a win for Barca might just clinch the trophy for the Catalan club. Our Spanish football expert Guillem Balague runs the rule over where the match will be won and lost...

El Clásico: both teams reaching for the top

El Clásico: both teams reaching for the top

STRONG POINTS OF EACH TEAM

Real Madrid's commitment is something that is often taken for granted. Their faith in themselves allows them to win games with 10 men or even when they are losing with two minutes to go, like they were against Getafe. Gonzalo Higuain and Raul have become the big names in important games. You can see how Higuain is the perfect heir to Raul's throne: not a 10 out of 10 in anything, but able to exploit his ability to the maximum potential. Real have faith in a system that divides them into two with six defending and four attacking. That system has given them this season's amazing stats: a record eight consecutive away victories, and 52 out of 54 points since the last match against Barcelona.

I think Iniesta is the best player in the world at the moment. It is time to say it and not be ashamed about it.

Guillem Balague

Quotes of the week

LIVE ON SKY SPORTS

Real Madrid v Barcelona

6.30pm, Sat, Sky Sports 3

With special studio guest, England coach Fabio Capello

Barcelona have got what will soon become the most prolific trio in the history of La Liga. Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry are one goal away from the total scored by Luis Del Sol, Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo di Stefano in the 1960-61 season. Henry (happy to come off the bench and score like against Valencia - another plus), Messi and Eto'o are this good because the team trusts them, and the team trusts them because of their work when they don't have the ball. Barca's possession game allows them to defend and attack effectively, and nobody has worked out how to beat them (the Espanyol and Atletico Madrid defeats had something of the fluke about them). If you defend with nine they will happily keep the ball until they find the cracks in the opposition defence, and if you pressurise them everywhere they have quality, even at the back, to pass the ball around.

WEAK POINTS

Barcelona's demanding calendar means they might be mentally tired, and that can lead to mistakes. They seemed unable to maintain a high tempo for the entire 90 minutes against Valencia as they have done so far, and that is only logical. In that game they kept the ball for too long in some stages, proof that the team doesn't feel strong enough to run into spaces and keep moving as quickly and dynamically as they were earlier in the season. Pep Guardiola has also taken the decision to rotate the team less at the end of the season. They are still strong, but now they are playing three high-pressure games in a week and they might suffer.

On the other hand, Real Madrid end games stronger than they start them and that is down to having played a game a week since January. Credit must also go to the magnificent work of Marcos Alvarez, the physical trainer who has given Raul, for instance, a second youth.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYERS

Yaya Toure is now happy to pass the ball, to keep it, and he doesn't lose his position very often anymore. His physical presence is essential in defending set pieces and his defensive midfield role is key.

Marcelo has won the confidence of the manager, and in exchange he has grown in stature. He is finally happy to play on the left of midfield, but even when he is at full-back he appears in offensive positions, making Madrid unpredictable and dangerous.

KEY PLAYERS

Iniesta is the best player in the world. Totally. And I'll stand by that statement until the end of the season. If he was Brazilian we would all be saying that. He can assist (three times against Sevilla) and he now scores too. He is the leader on and off the pitch, and he does that through the work he puts in on the pitch. He told me last season that Barcelona was close to a circus, not a football team. He smells when things away from football take charge of the changing room and he feels allergic to it. He will be next to Messi and maybe Ronaldo as player of the year at the end of 2009.

Raul scored the third league hat-trick of his career at the weekend, and it came when the team needed it most. He had not scored against Sevilla in a decade but appeared to reward the good football that Real Madrid were producing. He has scored 18 league goals, one less than David Villa if you don't count the Valencia striker's penalties. This week he was also the perfect captain by telling off both Marcelo (for ugly gestures to Getafe players) and Pepe (for losing his head in the same game).

GENERAL CONCLUSION

In these games, the best team doesn't always win. It is true that Barcelona have matched Real in commitment and faith in their possibilities, and also in hunger for titles. Both teams work as units and it is clear Barcelona play the better football. Without Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder or Pepe, Real are inferior man by man, but logic goes out of the window in these games. I favour Real Madrid as Barcelona have got this game sandwiched between the two Champions League matches against Chelsea.

It is a little bit of a miracle that Real Madrid find themselves in this position. After all this season their chairman was replaced following their worst institutional crisis ever; they swapped managers; they swapped goalscorers (Huntelaar only arrived in January); they swapped central midfield players (Mahamadou Diarra got injured, Lass arrived); and they are up against the best Barcelona side in history (something that, in a typical Catalan attitude, is making Barcelona fans fear the worst). The faith that Real have in themselves has been growing in the last few weeks even when their best players have been missing or when they have been almost written off. Like now.

http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,2...5251817,00.html

Looking forward to this as always. I'll want Barca to win but will putting this down as a draw on my weekend bet.

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Chookes

Chookes 20

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I'm finding hard to disagree with that claim that Iniesta may be the best in the world. Wonderful talent.

And should be a wonderful game. Shame I'll be missing because the in-laws are down.

Barcelona 2-0 Real, for me.

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Chambo

Chambo 197

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Real just seem unbeatable at the moment, so Real for me.

It's amazing to think that Real have won 16 out of the last 17 games and still 4 points behind!! Barcelona have been outstanding up until the last couple of weeks.

Should be an interesting game!!

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martin93

martin93 136

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I admittedly don't watch Spanish football much but for those that do,how good are Real playing? I might watch this but at i wasn't going to because of what i saw of Real against Liverpool and if they play like that again Barca should easily win.

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kplfishtank

kplfishtank 4,657

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i really hope royal madrid hammer these terrorist scum who when we played them had an "our day will come" banner as well as numerous irish tricolors

sorry guys im an unforgiving bassa who remembers these small things

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Duffy86

Duffy86 0

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i really hope royal madrid hammer these terrorist scum who when we played them had an "our day will come" banner as well as numerous irish tricolors

sorry guys im an unforgiving bassa who remembers these small things

I`m with you on this i hope Real hammer them

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Boab

Boab 73

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Real Madrid

Casillas

Sergio Ramos

Cannavaro

Metzelder

Heinze

Marcelo

Gago

Lass

Robben

Higuaín

Raúl

Barcelona

Víctor Valdés

Dani Alves

Puyol

Piqué

Abidal

Xavi

Touré Yaya

Keita

Iniesta

Messi

Eto´o

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