This weekend provides soccer fans with the chance to watch two of the best teams in the world compete in another exciting segment of a classic rivalry. Real Madrid will travel to the Camp Nou on Sunday to face Barcelona. This match is always exciting and the intensity has gone up since Jose Mourinho took over as manager of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid has not started off the season too well. This season, the team has accumulated 10 points from six games and they currently sit in sixth place in La Liga. This low point total also leaves Madrid eight points behind first-place Barcelona.
Even though Mourinho claims El Clasico is just another game, there must be a little worry in the Madrid team before this game. A loss would extend Barcelona’s point advantage in La Liga to double digits, which could be hard for Madrid to make up, even though it is early in the season.
A positive note for Madrid could be the good performances from Cristiano Ronaldo and the positive results from the last few games. Madrid beat Deportivo la Coruña 5-1 in La Liga Sept. 30 and then beat Ajax 4-1 in the Champions League on Oct. 3. Ronaldo scored a hat trick in both of these games to help lead his side to victory. For Madrid, Ronaldo will need to have a good game if they are to win El Clasico and reduce the point gap on Barcelona.
That task will be no easy feat. Barcelona is perfect in the league thus far, winning six out of six matches in La Liga. They have scored 17 goals while conceding just five. At home they have conceded only one goal this season, which is an impressive accomplishment.
Barcelona had a tough season last year, failing to win La Liga or the Champions League. They also lost their head coach, Pep Guardiola, in the off-season. However, the team looks focused and ready to take back their La Liga title this season from their fierce rivals.
As with all Clasico’s, the focus is not only going to be on the two teams, but also on each team’s superstars. Both Ronaldo and Messi have six goals in La Liga, but Messi leads Ronaldo in assists. Messi has three assists while Ronaldo has none. It is always fun to be able to watch not only two of the best teams in the world, but also two of the best players in the world.
Written By: Eric Stoyanov, Contributing Writer, soccerprose.com
