Real's Cristiano Ronaldo, left, and Barca's Lionel Messi will be two key players in el clasico.
Real's Cristiano Ronaldo, left, and Barca's Lionel Messi will be two key players in el clasico.

In-form giants have big guns for el clasico



Barcelona and Real Madrid are so evenly matched, writes Andy Mitten, that Spain's big game is impossible to call

Not only are Spanish sides Barcelona and Real Madrid giants of world football, but they are Europe's most in-form teams. In Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's best two players will be facing each other tonight, and so will two of football's most successful and charismatic coaches. Both cannot be victors, so which side has the edge?

Value for money

Real Madrid's team cost three times more than Barca's to assemble. Whereas Messi was a product of the youth system, Ronaldo cost a world record €94 million (Dh457m) when he signed from Manchester United in 2009. The players in Real's likely starting line-up cost €477.6m against the €156.8m of Barca - and much of that was lavished on David Villa and Daniel Alves.

The Catalans have their famed youth system to thank. World Cup-winning players like Xavi, Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Pedro, goalkeeper Victor Valdes and Sergio Busquets did not cost a dirham.

Real's Iker Casillas, probably the planet's best goalkeeper, was a product of their cantera, but the rest of the Madrid stars were purchased, often at great expense.

Defence

If Casillas shades it over Valdes in goal, then Barca can claim to have the better defence. Alves, their attacking Brazilian right-back, is considered the finest in the world, though Real's Sergio Ramos was a World Cup winner.

Maxwell, another Brazilian, is set to start at left-back over Eric Abidal for Barca. If there is a slight chink in the champions' armour, then it is here. Real are also expected to use a Brazilian at left-back, the diminutive Marcelo who, at 22, is already being called the "new Roberto Carlos".

In central defence, Barca have the imperious pairing of Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol, a partnership that has tasted victory from the Champions League to the World Cup.

Real have shown great consistency this season, with 10 players starting 10 or more of their 12 league games. They include the central defensive partnership of the ever-present Ricardo Carvalho and the Brazilian Pepe.

Real boast the stingiest defence in Spain with just six goals conceded to Barca's eight, but how many of their defenders would get into the Barca defence? Only Marcelo.

Midfield

Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira have been starting as a defensive midfielders for Real in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Alonso's range of passing as good as when he enjoyed his best Liverpool form.

Barca will play their trusted 4-3-3, with Sergio Busquets the most defensive midfielder. He will be charged with breaking up the plays of Real's prodigious attackers.

In front of him will be Xavi and Iniesta, the finest duo of creative midfielders in football. Both were in Fifa's top five for the 2010 World Player of the Year.

Opinions are divided about who is better, but Iniesta is Barca's only ever present in the league so far this season and has three goals to his name.

Forwards

The prospect of the players up front will have the 98,600 crowd salivating tonight, along with the expected 400 million global television audience.

Barca are likely to start with a front three of David Villa, Pedro and Messi. Villa has enjoyed a solid if not spectacular start to his Camp Nou career with six goals in 11 starts. Pedro has four in eight, while Messi has an astonishing 13 in 10.

Messi is the reigning World and European Player of the Year, as well as being the European golden boot holder. His greatest challenger this season is Ronaldo, who has scored 14 league goals in 12 starts so far.

Ronaldo will start behind an attack spearheaded by the Argentine Gonzalo Higuain, Real's top scorer last season who has seven goals from 12 starts this season.

Ronaldo will play alongside new signings Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria.

Both have settled immediately and provided key assists and goals at the Bernabeu, but neither has faced a test like tonight, a match against arguably the best club side ever in what will be the cauldron of Camp Nou.

Managers

The final intriguing clash is between the coaches. Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are both intense, relatively young, urbane, self-assured, handsome and sartorially perfect.

Guardiola is the purveyor of the attacking Barca philosophy instilled by Johann Cruyff when he was the Dutch legend's star pupil.

Mourinho thrives on attention and adversity. His reputation for defensive, negative football holds weight, but his high-scoring Real side are noted for their attacking zest and tight defence.

With home advantage, Barca are slight favourites, but it is almost impossible to call given the strength of both sides.

Midnight, Aljazeera Sport +3

'Panga'

Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta

Rating: 3.5/5

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The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo

Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic

Power: 242bhp

Torque: 370Nm

Price: Dh136,814

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

The specs

Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder

Transmission: 7-speed auto

0-100kmh 2.3 seconds

0-200kmh 5.5 seconds

0-300kmh 11.6 seconds

Power: 1500hp

Torque: 1600Nm

Price: Dh13,400,000

On sale: now

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now