On Sunday evening, at 22 o'clock Lithuanian time, the eyes and thoughts of football fans around the world will be directed to Barcelona, where the local team "Barcelona" will meet Madrid's "Real" at the "Camp Nou" stadium. The duel of the leaders of the Spanish "Primera" could also reveal the country's champion.
Current standings in the tournament table show that the first clash of this season's Spanish football giants in Madrid ended with a convincing 3:1 victory for "Real", but we can confidently say that the scale is currently tipping in favor of the Catalans.
For a long time, the Madrid team has been developing, while currently the "Barca" is leading in the tournament table with 65 points, but "Real" is only a few points behind. After the "El Clasico" match, both clubs will have to play ten more matches in the "Primera", so Barcelona's chance to increase their advantage to 4 points could be crucial.
Furthermore, Barcelona still has to play one match away against the defending champions "Atletico", so distancing themselves from Real is especially important.
Form of the team leaders shows that Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the title of the best footballer in the world, is not in top form lately. In 2015, the Portuguese striker scored 9 goals and made 4 assists in 14 matches. Gareth Bale has also not been showing his best form lately.
Argentinian Lionel Messi played 18 matches this year, scoring a remarkable 20 goals and making 12 assists. In the list of most productive "Primera" strikers, L. Messi with 32 goals is already ahead of C. Ronaldo.
Neymar, who has scored 17 goals in the "Primera", has been integrating well into the team this year. Luis Suarez's game may not be at the level of the highest class footballer, but it's only because the trio can't all fit in the same spotlight. Neymar, L.Suarez and L.Messi are getting along better and better, and the threat they pose to the opponent's goal is huge.
Recent matches show that before the "El Clasico" match, Barcelona had no trouble advancing in the UEFA Champions League tournament against "Manchester City". Although the Catalans only won 1:0 at home, the match reminded of games between clubs of completely different levels, where some did not want to waste too much energy and others tried but failed to equal Barcelona.
Meanwhile, the "Real" club recently played a 1:1 draw at home with "Villarreal", then lost 0:1 to "Athletic", and topped it off with a 3:4 home defeat to "Schalke" from Gelsenkirchen. Barely surviving in the Champions League, the "Royal Club" seemed to have improved in their recent matches, winning 2:0 against "Levante".
15min.lt
