Tyler Stearns |
El Clásico is always the biggest game in league football throughout Europe. It is between the Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, both with a storied history in Spain and continental cups. In recent years, Madrid has dominated, considering Barcelona's financial struggles and inability to buy quality players. But now, with a new manager, the team is dominating. They are relying on more La Masia talents, just like they did in the past, and it is working. Madrid is the opposite of the Blaugranas, as they have purchased nearly every quality player on their roster, including Kylian Mbappe who came in on a free transfer this past summer. Let's take a look at who will win.
We got a good look at the strength of the squad from each of these teams this week. Barcelona dominated Bayern Munich four to one. Madrid destroyed Borussia Dortmund after a second-half comeback that saw star winger Vinicius Jr. score a hat trick. Barca has performed much better in the league this year than Madrid, but Madrid has too much star power to overlook.
Tactically, Barcelona have been on another level. Flick's counterattack has been unstoppable, led by Raphinha. He is currently in the best form of his career because he can get out in space and finish one-on-one with the keeper. Lamine Yamal is often the one at the heart of their offense, as he dribbles and passes through the defense.
Madrid has been fine, but they have relied too much on their stars to make big plays. Mbappe has been okay in his first year with the club, but he has shown a lot of regression in the past few years. Vini has been amazing, considering he scored three versus Dortmund, but his goalscoring has increased in the past few weeks. The Madrid attack has been disappointing this year.
Our prediction is that Barcelona will win this game three to two, with two goals from Raphinha and a goal from Lamine Yamal for Barcelona, and a brace for Jude Bellingham.
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