Lionel Messi believes that the Madrid "Real" team is often harder to beat at the "Camp Nou" stadium than at the Santiago Bernabeu fortress.
It is this Wednesday that "Barcelona" will host Zinedine Zidane's proteges at their home stadium, who are tied with the hosts in points in the "La Liga" standings.
The Madrid team lost the first match of the last season at the "Camp Nou" stadium 1:5, but at that time the team was going through a real crisis. The following "El Clasico" in the King's Cup ended in a draw 1:1.
"When we play at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, we have a lot of space. They attack us more, which automatically opens up opportunities for us in offense," said L. Messi.
"At the Camp Nou stadium, they play a different style of match - they defend more, reduce spaces and try to attack quickly. This becomes a problem because they have fast players in offense.
"At the Bernabeu stadium, we play evenly for the full 90 minutes. In Barcelona, the matches are usually more 'closed' and a bit more complicated," said the Argentine.
Talking about the importance of the injury-prone Eden Hazard to the Madrid team, L. Messi added: "He has many good qualities. He stands out in his ability to easily disrupt the opponent's defense. Eden is a player of a completely different style than Cristiano.
It's hard to replace a player like Cristiano, but Hazard is excellent."
