Actual Madrid and Barcelona go head-to-head on the Bernabeu in La Liga on Saturday evening within the first Clasico of the 2024/25 season.
Three factors separate the pair of fierce rivals on the prime of the Spanish standings, with Barcelona holding a slight benefit of Madrid going into this encounter.
A Catalan win could be a big assertion as Hansi Flick goals to ship solely the membership’s second La Liga title since 2019, with the chance to open up a six-point lead over Los Blancos.
Nevertheless, ought to Madrid declare most factors, they might transfer into first place, stage on factors with Barca however forward on head-to-head tiebreaker standards.
That is arguably the largest single recreation in world soccer and units of eyes from all around the planet might be glued to screens come kick-off within the Spanish capital.
Whereas it was a task he shared final season with Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior is completely Madrid’s most important man. The Brazilian has scored or assisted in 9 of the membership’s ten La Liga video games to this point and received off the mark within the Champions League on Tuesday when his hat-trick destroyed Borussia Dortmund.
Vinicius returned to his extra standard left wing position in opposition to Dortmund, having been utilised alongside Kylian Mbappe in a entrance two for the 4 earlier video games at residence and overseas. However it was Rodrygo’s involvement that prompted the change again to the left flank and he has been dominated out by way of damage, suggesting that will probably be a central place for Vinicius as soon as extra.
He may have license to maneuver wherever, however his heatmaps for current video games beginning as a striker reasonably than a winger nonetheless present him favouring areas on the left. That may make the Ballon d’Or hopeful Jules Kounde’s downside on Saturday evening.
The Barcelona right-back took up a really slim place in opposition to Bayern Munich within the Champions League on Wednesday in an try and restrict area within the inside ahead channels, the place Vinicius is often at his most harmful.
One other Brazilian winger scored a Champions League hat-trick in midweek…Raphinha.
The previous Leeds United participant is flying beneath Flick’s administration, having appeared throughout the summer time as if he could be sacrificed for Euro 2024 hero Nico Williams.
Raphinha has been captaining the facet within the absence of the squad’s three extra senior leaders and has soccer’s most harmful weapon tucked firmly in his present arsenal: confidence.
Though a central place in his final two La Liga appearances have yielded 4 assists, it could make sense to see him in a left wing position on the Bernabeu just like the one he crammed in opposition to Bayern Munich. The reason is is Madrid right-back Lucas Vazquez.
The 33-year-old, who can also be more likely to be sporting Madrid’s armband because the squad’s most senior captain, has been repurposed as a full-back in current seasons however isn’t a pure defender and will actually wrestle in opposition to somebody in such good type as Raphinha.
It feels an excessive amount of for Frenkie de Jong or Gavi to be thrown again into the beginning lineup for this one after solely a handful of substitute appearances between them following long-term accidents. De Jong realized that the laborious approach when 45 minutes within the earlier Clasico in April set him again months.
Which means Pedri and Marc Casado will seemingly probably proceed on the base of the Barca midfield. The pair, whose mixed aged (42) is just simply greater than Luka Modric (39), did quite a lot of essential soiled work in opposition to Bayern, guaranteeing the Bavarian giants could not play by way of the center.
Though lauded for his or her technical means, they might want to do it in opposition to to frustrate Jude Bellingham. He was Madrid’s match winner in each of final season’s Clasicos. And whereas it hasn’t been a superb begin to 2024/25 for him by these very lofty requirements, the Englishman continues to be able to altering a recreation right away.
Squeezing the area within the areas the place Bellingham likes to function might frustrate him.
