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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Barcelona v Real Madrid: El Clásico – live! | Barcelona v Real Madrid: El Clásico – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 7.19pm GMT19:19 | |
| Tonight's all-star cast | |
| Barcelona: Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Mascherano, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar. Subs: Ter Stegen, Adriano, Bartra, Busquets, Rafinha, Xavi, Pedro. | |
| Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Isco; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo. Subs: Navas, Varane, Arbeloa, Silva, Illarramendi, Jese, Hernandez. | |
| 6.30pm GMT18:30 | 6.30pm GMT18:30 |
| Preamble | Preamble |
| We need to talk about Lionel Messi. He’s not bad, is he? | We need to talk about Lionel Messi. He’s not bad, is he? |
| Just look at what he did to Manchester City on Wednesday night. It’s not often that you’ll see a manager who’s on a scouting mission squealing with delight in the stands, but nothing could sum up Messi’s performance against City than the way Pep Guardiola reacted to his various flicks, tricks, nutmegs, dinks, dribbles, scampers, passes, crosses and shots on goal. It was a Messi masterclass - poor James Milner, poor Fernandinho, poor Manchester City - and Guardiola simply couldn’t hide his emotions. He was acting like the particularly annoying person at the cinema who won’t stop whooping whenever something vaguely interesting happens during the film, but can you blame him? That’s Messi for you. Even the best manager in the world is not immune to his unique charms. Even Guardiola is reduced to childlike glee when Messi is in that mood. | Just look at what he did to Manchester City on Wednesday night. It’s not often that you’ll see a manager who’s on a scouting mission squealing with delight in the stands, but nothing could sum up Messi’s performance against City than the way Pep Guardiola reacted to his various flicks, tricks, nutmegs, dinks, dribbles, scampers, passes, crosses and shots on goal. It was a Messi masterclass - poor James Milner, poor Fernandinho, poor Manchester City - and Guardiola simply couldn’t hide his emotions. He was acting like the particularly annoying person at the cinema who won’t stop whooping whenever something vaguely interesting happens during the film, but can you blame him? That’s Messi for you. Even the best manager in the world is not immune to his unique charms. Even Guardiola is reduced to childlike glee when Messi is in that mood. |
| It’s safe to say that Messi is back. This is probably his best run of form since 2012, injuries and poor tactical decisions from his managers holding him back in the past couple of years, and that is mightily good news for Barcelona and, potentially, mightily bad news for Real Madrid, who really could do without losing The El Clasico this evening. | It’s safe to say that Messi is back. This is probably his best run of form since 2012, injuries and poor tactical decisions from his managers holding him back in the past couple of years, and that is mightily good news for Barcelona and, potentially, mightily bad news for Real Madrid, who really could do without losing The El Clasico this evening. |
| Not so long ago, Real ruled La Liga and Barcelona were in crisis. Real were on top and when Barcelona lost 1-0 to Real Sociedad on 4 January, Camp Nou was engulfed in crisis. Luis Enrique was supposedly for the chop, an unhappy Messi was reportedly thinking about a summer move and Luis Suarez was straying dangerously close towards Flop Territory. Yet a few tactical tweaks here, a few kicks up the backside there and the Messi-Suarez-Neymar triumvirate has clicked beautifully, and Barcelona’s record since the Sociedad nadir reads: WWWWWWWWWWWLWWWWWW. | Not so long ago, Real ruled La Liga and Barcelona were in crisis. Real were on top and when Barcelona lost 1-0 to Real Sociedad on 4 January, Camp Nou was engulfed in crisis. Luis Enrique was supposedly for the chop, an unhappy Messi was reportedly thinking about a summer move and Luis Suarez was straying dangerously close towards Flop Territory. Yet a few tactical tweaks here, a few kicks up the backside there and the Messi-Suarez-Neymar triumvirate has clicked beautifully, and Barcelona’s record since the Sociedad nadir reads: WWWWWWWWWWWLWWWWWW. |
| Things change and now it’s Real’s turn to be In Crisis. Frankly they have been deeply underwhelming since the turn of the year. The fans have been jeering Gareth Bale, they’ve been humiliated by Atletico Madrid in the league and knocked out by them in the Copa del Rey, Cristiano Ronaldo has been frowning a lot, Carlo Ancelotti is under increasing pressure and they’ve relinquished their lead at the top to Barcelona after a few slip-ups. Above all, they’re not playing well, as we saw when they squeaked past Schalke in the last 16 of the Champions League. | Things change and now it’s Real’s turn to be In Crisis. Frankly they have been deeply underwhelming since the turn of the year. The fans have been jeering Gareth Bale, they’ve been humiliated by Atletico Madrid in the league and knocked out by them in the Copa del Rey, Cristiano Ronaldo has been frowning a lot, Carlo Ancelotti is under increasing pressure and they’ve relinquished their lead at the top to Barcelona after a few slip-ups. Above all, they’re not playing well, as we saw when they squeaked past Schalke in the last 16 of the Champions League. |
| But things change! A win tonight puts Real back in first place and they reckon that the return of Luka Modric from injury is going to steady the ship in midfield. He’s a fine player. Although he’s no Messi. Which means that it’s just as well that Madrid have Ronaldo. | But things change! A win tonight puts Real back in first place and they reckon that the return of Luka Modric from injury is going to steady the ship in midfield. He’s a fine player. Although he’s no Messi. Which means that it’s just as well that Madrid have Ronaldo. |
| Kick-off: 8pm in England, 9pm in Barcelona. | Kick-off: 8pm in England, 9pm in Barcelona. |