MADRID, Feb 28, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – La Liga’s most important Clasico for years
might also be the most mediocre on Sunday as Barcelona and Real Madrid each
fight to lift the gloom by deepening the other’s sense of crisis.
Two points separate the league’s leading pair, making this weekend’s
meeting at the Santiago Bernabeu a potentially significant checkpoint in a
back-and-forth title race, particularly if Barcelona win and extend their
advantage to five.
It will be more significant than last season, when Barca kicked off the
calendar’s second Clasico nine points clear of Madrid, or the season before,
when they were already 15 in front.
But while a tussle at the top of the table is welcome in terms of intrigue,
there is an unmistakeable sense of decline hanging over what has become the
world’s most famous club fixture.
“It’s a race of two lame ducks, both of them are bad right now, that’s the
reality,” former Real Madrid forward Jorge Valdano told Onda Cero on
Wednesday night.
“Barca’s recovery is more down to Real Madrid than Barca themselves.”
For both teams, the build-up has been bumpy, with Madrid particularly
wounded after a 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester City which has left them on
the brink of exiting the Champions League in the last 16 for a second year in
a row.
It might have been less concerning had it not come on the back of one win
in four and had City not appeared so superior.
“Things really do look bleak,” wrote Marca on Thursday. “The only takeaway
can be that this Madrid side simply aren’t up to it.”
They might be about to feel the kind of frustration that has haunted
Barcelona during a run of four consecutive years without making it past the
semis.
Barca’s own problems recently have largely been to do with their president
and board, but the emergency signing of striker Martin Braithwaite from
Leganes exposed muddled thinking that has affected the squad too.
“We don’t have a deep squad because, unfortunately, that’s how it was
planned,” said Sergio Busquets on Tuesday.
Barcelona and Real Madrid’s combined 108 points taken at this stage is
their second lowest since 2007, beaten only by last year’s even lower total
of 105.
Barca have been more reliant than ever on Lionel Messi to paper over the
cracks in their defence while Madrid’s defence has covered their lack of
firepower up front, where they remain without an elite scorer, despite the
impressive early-season form of Karim Benzema.
– End of golden age? –
Cristiano Ronaldo’s shadow still lingers, in part because Messi’s
brilliance deserves a rival, in the league, but particularly the Clasico,
where Ronaldo’s presence is undeniably missed.
He is not the only one. Neymar was sold while Xavi Hernandez and Andres
Iniesta retired. Gareth Bale’s star has dimmed so much that his place in
Zinedine Zidane’s squad is no longer secure, let alone his starting line-up.
There are some mitigating circumstances like injuries to Eden Hazard, who
has the potential to light up any game, and Luis Suarez, who has seven goals
in his last seven outings in this fixture.
Yet the sense is of a golden era disappearing or gone, which is having
implications for the national team too.
Eleven Spaniards started the last Clasico before Spain won the 2010 World
Cup while in the goalless draw at Camp Nou in December there were six,
including Gerard Pique, who has retired from international football.
There is a financial element that stretches back further. Where once
Barcelona and Real Madrid could strong-arm the transfer market, both have
been increasingly squeezed by Financial Fair Play and outmuscled by richer
upstarts like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
Last summer, Eden Hazard was the first player Madrid had signed for more
than 60 million euros since James Rodriguez in 2014. Barcelona’s chief
executive Oscar Grau said they needed to reduce their wage bill this season
by 18 million euros.
Mediocrity is not likely to last long, particularly if Kylian Mbappe and
Neymar can be lured next summer.
With Messi now fit and firing, Barca might even exceed expectations in the
Champions League and Madrid could yet pull off an escape against City.
But Sunday’s game is a duel of two teams no longer at full pelt, stumbling
through transition, pitsand hoping past glories will soon return.