Barcelona Vs. Real Madrid: Five Match-Ups To Watch In El Clasico

Earlier today Steve Abrams did the bulk of my work, identifying the over-arching pressure points of today’s Clasico. With his piece as guidance, I started playing the match over-and-over in my mind, trying to quiet the roars of 97,000 at the Camp Nou whose imaginary cheers were distracting me from my hypothetical analysis. Once I discovered my mind’s mute and sifted through the matches where Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández or Cristiano Ronaldo brilliance had defied all analytical dissection, a handful of on-pitch match-ups consistently highlighted my footballing fantasies.

Let’s pick out five of them:

1. Carles Puyol/Daniel Alves versus Cristiano Ronaldo/Ángel Di Maria - In the last Clasico, Pep Guardiola made a dramatic change to his set-up in an attempt to make Carles Puyol the primary defender of Cristiano Ronaldo, resulting in a rare start for Dani Alves in an attacking role. By halftime, Manuel Pellegrini had shifted Cristiano Ronaldo from left wing to right, and the chess metaphors flowed.

This year, Real Madrid has more balance, having brought in Ángel Di Maria to play on Ronaldo’s opposite wing. A natural left-sided player, Di Maria can also be inverted on the right, giving José Mourinho more options should he try to move Ronaldo away from Puyol.

The subtext to all this: Carles Puyol is really, really good. In other sports, terms like shut down and lock down are used to describe this ability to match up, on-on-one, with a star. Should Pep Guardiola chose to again break-up his back line, Puyol could renew the role that helped defeat Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League final.

Regardless, Di Maria provides a new cost to that tactic. Whether he be opposite Alves or Maxwell or Eric Abidal, Ángel Di Maria should give Pep Guardiola pause before getting too creative with his backline.

2. Javier Mascherano or Sergio Busquets versus Mesut Ozil - This is Barcelona’s first huge match of the season, one which will tell us the true pecking order at defensive midfield. Many suspect Sergio Busquets’ incumbency will be unseated. Some suspect it already has, with Mascherano starting in Champions League last Wednesday. With both fit for today’s match, Guardiola has to reveal.

Whomever he choses will be crucial in limiting Mesut Özil, the key to the transition game that will allow Real Madrid to sit deep while maintaining a significant threat going forward. The central midfield position in Mourinho’s 4-2-1-3 is vital to springing Madrid out of their own end, into a four man attack, catching opponents in transition.

If Mascherano or Busquets can be at Ozil’s feet when the German playmaker turns upfield, Madrid will have to be more reliant on Ronaldo. If Mourinho can provide Barcelona’s deepest midfielder reason to worry about more than Özil, Madrid’s tactics will remain in tact.

3. Ricardo Carvalho/Pepe versus David Villa - This match-up could also include Real Madrid right back Sergio Ramos, but with Barcelona’s tendency to ease their way through the middle of the park, the central defense’s ability to track the striker is always crucial. As Barcelona’s short passes break down the central midfield, moving Andres Iniesta and Xavi toward the line, Carvalho and Pepe will limit the space available for David Villa. Samuel Eto’o’s late Barcelona success was built on his ability to exploit a defense’s inability to make the right decisions, and if Carvalho and Pepe make poor choices on when to come out of their line, Villa will be similarly successful.

4. Sami Khedira versus Xavi Hernández - Of course, one way to ease the pressure on Carvalho and Pepe is to exert some pressure of your own. Xavi Hernández is the driving force behind Barcelona, and his role dropping deep to pick-up the ball and bring Barcelona forward makes it difficult to assign any one player to mark him without completely destroying your shape. But when Xavi is in Real Madrid’s half, lurking anywhere from 20 to 35 yards from goal, it will be up to Sami Khedira to make his life as difficult as possible. The German international will have to sense when it’s worth leaving space behind him in order to get out on Hernández, force a turnover or a negative ball, and disrupt Barcelona’s build-up. He’ll need help from his partner, Xabi Alonso, to make sure his movements are being balanced by Alonso’s positioning.

But this is really a pick your poison scenario with Barcelona. If you over-commit to Xavi, that forces Andres Iniesta into a slightly different, more important role, a role he’s perfectly capable of filling. The only benefit to pushing the play to Iniesta: We know what a Xavi-driven Barcelona can do. An Iniesta driven team? That’s supposed to be the subject for the future. Real Madrid may want to hit fast-forward and take their chances.

5. José Mourinho versus Pep Guardiola - Of course I had to include this one. I tried not to. I didn’t want to seem trite or cliched, but it’s true. How Pep Guardiola counters a Mourinho approach that knocked Barcelona out of Champions League may be the most decisive element of this match. But as last year’s Puyol/Alves machinations show, it’s not the only aspect that’s important. While Guardiola tries to find the balance between Barcelona’s style and exposure to a potent counter, he must also have a plan that contains Cristiano Ronaldo, `less the Portuguese star be allowed to steal the match.

José Mourinho has similar concerns. He has to worry about containing Barcelona and limiting Messi, but he showed last year that he has a plan that works. For Mourinho, it’s more about getting his players to execute the plan while he tryie to stay one step ahead of Guardiola: How will Pep contain Ronaldo? Well, then I have to do this. Guardiola made this adjustment last time. I have to be ready to do this when that happens.

It’s all about the chess metaphor. While it’s often overused, it proved apt the last time these teams met. With José Mourinho taking Manuel Pellegrini’s seat, don’t expect this match to get less complicated.