The first clasico of the season looms and the game on November 21 dominates agendas.
Everything Barcelona or Real Madrid do is somehow related to the game at the Bernabeu.
If both sides fail to convince, as has often been the case this season, then that bodes badly for el clasico.
Lionel Messi’s injury? It was all about whether he would be back for the clasico. That now looks unlikely, so everything Barca do is with the clasico in mind.
If they play 4-4-2 at Getafe it is because that is Luis Enrique’s Plan B ahead of a clasico without Messi.
READ MORE:
– Barcelona’s Luis Suarez and Neymar carry goalscoring burden in Lionel Messi’s absence
– Nacho saves Real Madrid but PSG ‘proved that we can create danger for any team’
Spain’s big two are first and second in the Primera Liga, yet neither have hit the expected heights.
That might be a good thing.
Real Madrid were imperious a year ago before fading. It is better to be brilliant in March and April for the biggest games.
Both sides have injuries to key players. Keylor Navas, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema all missed Madrid’s weekend win against Las Palmas while Luca Modric also left the field injured at half time.
He, Navas and Ramos were back in the starting XI as they defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in Tuesday's Uefa Champions League match thanks to a Nacho Fernandez goal.
Madrid have qualified for the knockout stage, but they were unconvincing and fans watched PSG’s Angel di Maria providing the twists and turns, the moments of impudent skill, they miss.
Not without reason, the French side felt they were worth a draw. “Football is like that, sometimes it’s not fair,” coach Laurent Blanc said.
PSG had more possession and created more chances, with Madrid coach Rafa Benitez saying his team’s performances would improve when, Bale, Benzema and the others return. Madrid could field an XI of players who have been injured in the last month.
Without two of their three frontmen, Madrid largely played a 4-5-1 formation, or even a 4-4-1-1 with Tony Kroos ahead of the midfield and Ronaldo alone up front.
He did not touch the ball once in the PSG area all night and has scored only two of his last 92 free-kicks for club and country.
If there is any positive to come from Madrid’s injuries which were compounded by Marcelo’s injury on Tuesday, then it is that Benitez has turned to homegrown players.
For too long, Madrid have bought rather than created first team talents, yet goalscorer Nacho was a product of their youth system, while Lucas Vasquez is now a first team squad member.
Back from injury, the hugely popular Jese is progressing, though the youngsters are playing in a side which is dull to watch.
Not defensive, as critics feared Benitez’s Madrid would be for they press high, but dull.
They should improve as their better players return and most should be back for el clasico, but while fans are hard to impress, Madrid qualified from their Champions League group with two games to spare.
They have also have gone 19 unbeaten in the Champions League group stages, a competition record. And if that is not enough, Madrid are unbeaten in their opening 10 league matches, having scored more goals and conceded less – only four – than any other team.
They have met every challenge put in front of them, including beating a hugely entertaining Celta Vigo away last month.
Similar criticisms have been levelled at Barca, though Neymar and Luis Suarez still provide moments of magic which win games.
Barca will strengthen their squad when their transfer ban is lifted in January, Madrid hope that they can get the better of their injury crisis before then.
They will meet before solutions can be found to both issues, another reason for the clasico to intrigue.
Politics, sport and Uefa should not mix
Ahead of recent elections to vote for a Catalan president, one mainstream candidate set up a stall outside Espanyol’s stadium before their home game against Real Madrid.
Fans appeared keen to shake hands with Xavier Garcia Albiol, a politician from the Partido Popular.
He was in an area of high internal immigration, where the mood is not for a separate Catalan state as it is in many parts of Barcelona and that tallied with the policies of Albiol’s party.
As he smiled and posed for selfies, a fan walked past and shouted: “No to politics at Espanyol. This is a football club, not a political club.”
Albiol ignored him – and he knows that football and politics have long been intertwined in Catalonia. Travel to any town or village in Catalonia and you will see flags supporting Catalan independence.
They are mainstream and can be found on flag poles on the entrances to towns and on balconies everywhere.
They are not seen as symbols of separatism, more of pride and they are a common sight inside Camp Nou, more so after the upsurge in numbers of those wanting a separate state in recent years.
Before that, a huge “Catalonia is Not Spain” banner would be unfurled, in English, before each Camp Nou clasico.
Uefa fined Barca €40,000 (Dh160,500) after Catalan independence flags were spotted in the crowd at the Uefa Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen last month.
They were fined a corresponding amount after similar flags were widely displayed during the Champions League final in May.
Uefa argues the use of the flag violates its regulations, which prohibit “the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature”.
Catalans are furious with Jordi Sanchez, president of the Catalan National Assembly, saying: “Nobody can tell us where and when we, Catalans, can show our symbols.”
Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu has threatened to take Uefa to court for violating fans’ right to freedom of speech, stating: “It threatens one of the most basic rights of democracy. That of the freedom of expression.”
It is difficult for Barca to remain neutral when so many Catalans see the club as the standard bearer for their ‘country’. More difficult for Barca’s president to ignore the wishes of the people who voted him to be president.
Sport and politics are irrevocably intertwined, but Uefa needs to be careful playing judge and jury.
Primera Liga fixtures (in UAE time)
Friday
• Las Palmas v R Sociedad, 11.30pm
Saturday
• Celta Vigo v Valencia, 7pm
• Levante v Deportivo, 9.15pm
• Eibar v Getafe, 11.30pm
• Vallecano v Granada, 11.30pm
• Malaga v Real Betis, 1.05am
Sunday
• Ath Bilbao v Espanyol, 3pm
• Barcelona v Villarreal, 7pm
• Atletico Madrid v Sporting Gijon, 9.15pm
• Sevilla v R Madrid, 11.30pm
Player of the week
Athletic Bilbao’s Inaki Williams scored the first double of his career as Athletic Bilbao beat Real Betis 3-1 away. Athletic’s improved form sees them up to eighth. The striker, the Basques’ first black player, has scored seven Athletic goals, all of them away from San Mames. Williams, 21, the son of Liberian refugees who settled in the Basque Country, has a brother in Athletic’s youth system. Athletic have signed the elder Williams’ brother on a contract until 2020 with a €20 million (Dh80.2m) release clause. He will be back in action tonight as Athletic take on Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League.
Game of the week
Barcelona v Villarreal, second v fifth. Villarreal got back on track after a wobble to beat Sevilla 2-1. Inconsistent Sevilla, beaten at home by Manchester City on Tuesday, entertain Real Madrid in the day’s other most intriguing game.
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