The effectiveness of the long diagonal is especially important in this game. Ruben Semedo could start in place of Roberto, but the Portuguese is returning from injury and may not have the fitness or rhythm to start. Subs: Rodrygo (6), Modric (6) Madrid is missing some big names, so this is a golden opportunity for Barcelona to get three points. His action and Messi’s starting point between the two centre-backs freed Suárez to receive, turn and deliver the game-winner. When Barcelona doesn’t have the ball, the answer is simple…tactical pragmatism. La Liga 2019/20: Barcelona vs Real Madrid – tactical preview After political unrest in Catalonia led the postponement of El Clásico, the day has finally arrived. Wayward passes often end up at the feet of Casemiro, Raphael Varane or Ramos. They’re dead last in La Liga with just 183 crosses, whereas Real Madrid is 7th with 334. He’s the key to Madrid’s attack. Barca overtake Real in all-time Clasico wins Ivan Rakitic's first-half goal was all Barcelona needed to beat Real Madrid 1-0 in La Liga action on Saturday. That leaves him with six goals in the flow of play for a total of 12 (all with his left foot) in 11 La Liga games. Elustondo saw him, deviating from covering Llorente to now scrambling to deny Benzema. Bale is returning from a hamstring injury and played 25 minutes against Valencia. Knowing that Barcelona will likely try to get the outside-backs high up the field, don’t be surprised if Madrid forces Barcelona to play out of the back often. I expect a 1-1 draw in a very tense game.

Real Madrid has closed the gap, tying Barcelona on points, trailing only on goal differential. They’ll look to play long, vertical balls soon after recovery. One Barcelona change saw Nelson Semedo come in for Sergio Busquets.

In previous Clásico, we’ve seen Messi sit in the space that Marcelo vacated, receive and draw out Ramos, then cut centrally to combine with his teammates. Valverde’s defending tactics call for extreme narrowness. He cut inside of Partey, played a simple give-and-go with Suárez and produced a brilliant finish. Sloppy defence from the Atlético midfield allowed Messi to turn out of pressure and find Arthur. Remember those 61 long balls Madrid average each game? There was also the rare occurrence of Messi failing to connect with the ball properly. When he starts centrally, it’s typically to pull a centre-back from the middle, opening a massive gap for his wide teammates to run into. Watch for them to play at varying heights within a tight space. Barcelona jugará en casa ventaja muy buena para ellos, ambas escuadras vienen de un empate en sus anteriores partidos en la Liga Santander, un duelo sumamente parejo. Plus, with the wide build-up, any loss of possession gives them more time to recover their defensive shape, getting numbers behind the ball. According to WhoScored, Barcelona will play about 51 long balls per game compared to Real Madrid’s 61. As opponents build-up, Madrid is fantastic at funnelling play to the wings, then forcing the opponent to play backwards. For Real Madrid, progression through the wings is a common tactic. You can see the outstretched arm of Benzema at the bottom-left. Atlético attempted to play through the pressure but turned the ball over to Griezmann.

If Vinícius Júnior plays on the left, they will then look to play high and wide teammates on either side. Subs: Vidal (6), Fati (6) As its building up, Madrid will typically have Kroos drop deep to receive and play long. Barcelona

Flighted balls to high, wide targets could unlock the aggressive defence, but Los Blancos will have to play safely until that moment. There’s a lot happening in this frame. For Zidane, the long balls tend to be diagonal, targeting the wide players in space.

Madrid design their tactics to aggressively attack the half-spaces in the lead up to the final pass. As the gap between the two central defenders widened, Bale made his surging run right through the gap. Griezmann slotted a nice pass to Suárez, who earned a corner kick. Given the threat of Bale and Rodrygo on the wings, expect Alba to be a little more conservative going forward. Casemiro and Valverde will likely start alongside Kroos, covering for his defensive vulnerabilities. Messi has four set-piece goals and two converted penalty kicks. It could be a mistake that leads to the game-winning goal as both teams will likely play not to lose. If the pass is completed, expect them to attack the Madrid backline in a 3v3 or 3v4 situation. Bale had the ball in the back of the net with 20 minutes to go, but after a VAR check, Mendy was deemed to have been offside before his cross was met by the Welshman. Yellow footballs were hurled onto the pitch, but stewards quickly cleared them off as Arturo Vidal replaced Nelson Semedo. Llorente’s pass is intercepted by Varane, who ignited the attack.

Barcelona needed a win to keep fighting for the title and […], All Content © 2020 Total Football Analysis Magazine. Barcelona frequently attacks transitional moments with a combination of numerical equality and qualitative superiority.

Both sets of players were at the same hotel a stone's throw away from the Nou Camp before being escorted to the stadium more than two hours before kick-off, while protests outside conveyed the message: 'Spain, sit and talk'. One win separates Real Madrid from their first La Liga title since the 2016-17 season. La Liga 2019/20: Real Madrid vs Villarreal – tactical preview, Bundesliga 2020/21: Bayern Munich vs Schalke 04 – tactical preview, La Liga 2019/20: Villarreal vs Barcelona – tactical analysis. He played the last 20 minutes against Real Sociedad but had little impact. Barcelona vs Real Madrid se ubican en lo más alto de la tabla general con 35 puntos, con mejor diferencia de goles para la escuadra del Barcelona FC. I hope I’m wrong on that last bit, but Madrid will play for even a single point and Barcelona can’t afford to lose the home leg against their fellow title contender. Barcelona will surely look for quick combinations like this today. As Real Madrid attack in Barcelona’s defensive third, expect Messi, Suárez and Griezmann to continuously adjust their starting positions to offer the vertical outlet. Meanwhile, Valverde’s side is wildly overachieving in goals scored and are six points ahead of their xPTS. Sancho: The state of play ahead of Deadline Day, Vinicius loan to Spurs confirmed by Benfica, A woman holds up a banner with the words 'Tsunami Democratic' and 'Spain, Sit and Talk!'

With Real Sociedad aggressively pursuing the Madrid defenders, Varane opts to ball long to Bale. Barcelona’s projected lineup: ter Stegen; Roberto, Gerard Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Sergio Busquets, Rakitic, de Jong; Messi, Suárez, Griezmann, Madrid’s projected lineup: Thibaut Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Ferland Mendy; Casemiro, Kroos, Valverde; Rodrygo, Benzema, Isco. When Barcelona purchased Griezmann, the natural question was “how will Barcelona fit three central players into their forward line?”. As we saw in the game against Atlético, they only need one opportunity to secure a result. Emotions will run high as both teams will understand the significance of this result on the final standings. Though both teams are especially good in transition, they’re also among the best in the world in terms of constructing the attack. As the pass is en route, look for the outside-backs to get forward in support of the forwards. Zidane knows that Valverde’s team will look to play long upon recovering the ball. Benzema would then cross the ball to Modric, who dropped to Valverde. before the La Liga match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, The 'Spain, sit and talk' message was on display inside the Nou Camp as well, Messi went a record fourth Clasico match without scoring or producing an assist. Scott's a former philosophy and theology grad student turned direct response copywriter, youth football coach, and tactical analyst. In that game against Atlético, Barcelona pressed with their entire team in a 30×25 metre area. Zidane’s side could use more clinical finishing as Karim Benzema is the lone standout, scoring 12 goals with a 9.1 xG. Sergi Roberto claimed a cross and headed the ball to Frankie de Jong, who drove down the field despite Messi’s clamouring. Barcelona igualo 0-0 ante el Real Madrid en el Clásico 2019, Rayados pierde pero deja un Gran Sabor de boca ante Liverpool, Golazo de Diego Lainez de tiro libre ante Antoniano, Edwin Cardona muy cercas de regresar al Boca Jr, Diego Maradona decepciona a seguidores en video viral, Rayados avanza a la Semifinal Mundial Clubes Qatar 2019, Empatan 1-1 en la ida de la Final Femenil 2019. Alba, in particular, is used to progress play up the left-wing, combining with his left-sided midfielder and forward. The biggest game of the first half of the season is finally here. In addition to their defensive work in the midfield, they will have the additional tasks of denying Barcelona’s opportunities for combination play near the box and cutting out negative passes in the box. Makes perfect sense, right? Studying Real Madrid, they are most comfortable defending in a middle block. Here Clément Lenglet dribbled into the midfield and passed to Messi. Given Alba’s fitness levels, expect Semedo to start on the bench and replace Alba at left-back at some point. Zidane’s tactics are producing more than enough opportunities for this team to contest for the title and make a run in the UEFA Champions League. The downside is any turnover means Barcelona has three to six players around the ball, attacking in numbers as they quickly move in on goal. As de Jong passed to Messi, the Argentinian (stop me if you’ve heard this before) dribbled down the right half-space, pinning his defender and demanding the attention of a second. Both clubs are in league action again on the weekend - the final round of fixtures this year. In this last scenario, Real Madrid is defending deep in their end against Real Sociedad. Modric is also slow to cover the middle, which is why Valverde is my favourite to get the start. vs Real Madrid.

Este es un partido re programador ya que se jugaría en la Fecha 10, un duelo importante para ambos equipos ya que es vital obtener una ventaja en puntos para no tener presión más adelante en la Liga. They will look for the wide forwards, especially on the right-side. That’s a credit to the clinical finishing of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez. Jordi Alba should have broken the deadlock for Barcelona before the break, while VAR then denied Bale in the second half after Ferland Mendy strayed offside in the build-up. Dani Carvajal gets beat and stumbles, moving Varane into first defender duties. Barcelona host Alaves on Saturday, while Real Madrid welcome Athletic Bilbao to the Bernabeu on Sunday. Barcelona vs Real Madrid se ubican en lo más alto de la tabla general con 35 puntos, con mejor diferencia de goles para la escuadra del Barcelona FC. After political unrest in Catalonia led the postponement of El Clásico, the day has finally arrived.