Imagine !!! we were close to not having Messi in this El Classico. I know it was inhumane the way, the GOAT was jailed in to serve his contract, but here we are.
We are facing the most abhorred mega rival in the most popular footballing contest in the cosmos. And the best part is that believe it or not, all the cards are somehow decked up in favour of our beloved club. Real Madrid are coming in to our den with two back to back defeats. One against a team which made its way back to La Liga after hiatus. The other without it's starting 10 players, and which was supposed to be easy meal for the Madrid team even with their preferred team. Whereas, we are going in with a classy performance albeit against not such a great opposition, but surely not worse than the rivals Madrid foundered. Psychologically, Barca fans could not have dreamt for a better situation.
Going back to our mid-week European game, the team had positives across the line-up. And we have all the lads primed to put up their best foot forward literally on Saturday. Dembele got his wings mid-week, and boy did he show what he's capable of. He's always that player who when he has a good game, can split defence. And right now, he must be at his highest confidence level he might have been at least for more than a year. Just considering his long frustrating struggle with fitness, to cheer him up, I would hand him the MOTM for the game. although I know there were quite a few genuine contenders for the same. And isn't that fantabulous that we could have quite a few players who would deserve to be the man of the match. Of course, Messi's run was something which only Messi can do. He seemed to suddenly pull back the years and put on his flea mode. If he has one or more of those against Los Blancos, then we are up for a treat and the Meringues for even more misery. Pedri and Fati have been fanstastic for sometime now. Fati has obviously delivered so many times already. Pedri has looked very good every time he's stepped on to the field. And he's now stamped his mark with a precisely taken goal. What matured head on our two toddlers. Forget boozing, their tender age doesn't allow them to drive their own cars to and from Camp Nou, but put a ball at their feet, they make the established veterans look ridiculous. Trincao showed glimpses of his confidence and his potential as well. Dest is a truly effective versatile full back. He has slotted in effortlessly on both sides. Frankie hasn't really got his grove yet as per me, but that assist was pretty much as good as a goal. Hate to be hard on Ansu, but he didn't really hit the overhead pass cleanly. But the spot, De Jong put the ball in, it was difficult to miss the goal. But overall, I think our double pivot needs to be sharper. And I think it can be more incisive with Pjanic in there in place of Busquets. Pjanic tries the long passes to beat offside trap. Those passes will never get you accolades for successful pass completions, but they will more often open up defences especially against teams such as Bayern. Busquets (Post 2018) brings stability against not so great teams, but will always be insignificant against good teams. However, I think Koeman will stick with Busquets, and that might be the safer option right now. However, before next El Classico, Busquets should ideally be in the bench. Our defence is simply not strong. Lenglet is the only player who is performing consistently. And he's not an elite defender yet. Pique will have to have a great game against some pace. We might leak goals, so we have to be incisive enough to score more. RK can not go to the game with a conservative approach. Goal keeping wise, we are as good as any team can be with either Neto or Ter Stegen in there. Ofcourse, Neto has to start this one because of continuity. Last but not least, Griezmann must be having some strong motivation to try to win back his position. And he's a player who won't go without a strong performance for long. If given chance, he might just have the fire in his belly to pull up something.
From a coaching perspective, Zizou clearly is better than RK, at least career wise, so far. Also, Real Madrid players have been together for longer time. So on paper are a better oiled machine. But we saw what that counted for in the last two games - ROTFL. I think the result of the game will come down to following:-
- RK not going with a conservative tactic.
- At least few of the Blaugrana players in form putting in a shift on Saturday.
- We tend to start slow and nervy. We have to change that. Mid-week also, it showed. Los Blancos will make it very difficult for us to make a comeback if we give up a goal very early in the game.
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