La Liga pioneers Real Madrid head into El Clasico on Sunday hoping to record a 6th progressive success over Barcelona yet they will be inviting aside in the resurgent structure under new manager Xavi.
The European monsters have proactively met double this season, with Carlo Ancelotti's side winning in the association at the Nou Camp before likewise seeing off their Catalan opponents in additional time in the Supercopa de Espana.
It will be the main Clasico at the Bernabeu since March 2020 after Real gotten back to their famous arena recently while progressing redesigns. Sunday's match will have a limit confined to a sold-out 60,000 fans.
Genuine will start the game with 15 focuses in front of their guests, who sit third behind Sevilla and are unbeaten in the association since 4 December when Xavi experienced his only loss in the opposition against Real Betis.
It will likewise be a Clasico that shows up marginally unique on the eye - neither one of the clubs will be in their customary tones, with Real set to brandish a dark pack to honor their 120th commemoration this month, while Barcelona will wear a shirt including the yellow and red of the Catalan banner.
What's on the line?
For Real Madrid, pride and El Clasico boasting privileges as the pioneers are 10 focuses clear of second-put Sevilla. Be that as it may, recently Ancelotti reviewed the time his AC Milan side surrendered a 3-0 lead in the Champions League last against Liverpool in 2005 as an approach to saying the title race was not finished.
Barcelona, in the interim, is doing combating to make the main four and secure Champions League football for next season. They have not neglected to arrive at Europe's world-class rivalry since the 2003-04 season when Xavi was a player.
That was additionally the last time Barcelona neglected to make the knockout phases of the Champions League, until this season, with Xavi unfit to save the club's gathering stage after supplanting Ronald Koeman in November as they completed third and dropped into the Europa League.
With the two clubs flaunting gigantic worldwide followings, and El Clasico frequently the most-watched match all over the planet, La Liga president Javier Tebas considered the game a "main thrust".
Who will make the difference?
Genuine Madrid will be without in-structure striker Karim Benzema, who has scored 22 objectives in 25 games in La Liga this term after he got a calf injury in the 3-0 win against Mallorca on Monday.
"We never face challenges," said Ancelotti. "He can't play since he hasn't prepared, he feels some inconvenience [but] it's a little physical issue. Karim is 34-years of age, it can work out."
Previous Real Madrid striker Hugo Sanchez said the French forward would be a major miss for the hosts.
"Benzema has heaps of value, is loaded with the ability, and presently he is turning into ahead of Real Madrid," he said. "The reality he is harmed, the match will be totally unique.
"He should be taken care of and safeguarded. Assuming that I was Ancelotti, I wouldn't put Benzema out on the pitch."
Genuine do, notwithstanding, additionally gloat the association's second-most elevated scorer in thrilling Brazilian possibility Vinicius Junior, who has gotten multiple times.
"Vinicius Junior will be a vital participant," added Sanchez, who scored 208 objectives in his seven years at the club. "[But] it's muddled to supplant Benzema."
Ancelotti is sure he has choices to supplant Benzema and among them are Gareth Bale, Mariano Diaz, and Luka Jovic, while the Italian will likewise think about involving Isco and Rodrygo there.
Barcelona has their very own frontman in clinical structure, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's champ in the Europa League last-16 tie against Galatasaray on Thursday his seventh objective in 10 games since showing up on a free exchange from Arsenal.
"The Clasico is the greatest match on the planet, without a doubt, since everybody is discussing that game, in any event, when we are outside of the game," the 32-year-old told La Liga TV.
"It implies a ton for everybody at the club and clearly I realize how the derbies are - I have played a couple before - and there is this strain and this feeling that it is something particularly amazing, something other than what's expected, and this is the very thing we like."
Aubameyang's structure is a gigantic difference to his last a very long time in north London, with Gabon worldwide run-in with Gunners supervisor Mikel Arteta and being deprived of the club captaincy following a disciplinary break.
Xavi, in any case, said he felt fortunate to have the striker.
"Auba has been a gift from paradise," he said after Aubameyang scored in their 4-0 win over Osasuna at the last end of the week, considering him a "positive player" and an "honor to prepare".
Another previous Premier League player, Ferran Torres, scored two times in that triumph having endorsed from Manchester City in the January window as a feature of Xavi's reconstruction.
Barcelona's other enrollment has been to a great extent free exchanges or credit bargains due to the monetary hardships that prompted them to lose Lionel Messi to PSG in the late spring - bargains including marking winger Adama Traore from Wolves,.
A clash of styles?
Xavi is about really Barcelona, having gotten through the club's La Masia framework and spending most of his vocation there before joining Al Sadd in Qatar, where he likewise started his training profession.
The 42-year-old said for the current week he needed his side to be motivated by Barcelona Femeni, looking at the club's all-vanquishing ladies' group to the one he played in under Pep Guardiola and the Dream Team of the mid-90s that was instructed by Johan Cruyff.
"For a very long time they have been showing us the way with how they play, how they contend and the yearning they have notwithstanding winning everything last year," he said.
"We have been watching them and it's a miracle to see them play. They are driving the way similar as the Dream Team did in their day or as Pep's Barca side did later. They are a model for the men's group."
They will confront a more logical Real Madrid under Ancelotti, who is in his second spell at the club after winning the Champions League in 2013-14.
"According to a strategic perspective, our methodology will be vital as these sorts of games are frequently settled by minor subtleties," midfielder Toni Kroos told the club's site.
"We simply need to continue onward along these lines as of late games, show discipline, know about the significance of this match, in La Liga, yet for our fans.
"We need to get ready for it perseveringly, show discipline in safeguard, and afterward up top, we'll continuously make things."
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