FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid : Five things to watch
By Vijay Vemu
1. Messi’s return
What made Barcelona’s win over Madrid in October all the more impressive was the fact that they had gone 3-0 up on Madrid with Messi sitting on the bench. Many thought they would struggle without their best player but obviously it didn’t hinder Barcelona one bit. He was not fit to start the match but it looked as though Barcelona didn’t need him. But obviously Barcelona would rather have Messi on the pitch than on the bench. He will be fit for this game and will look to lead Barcelona once again.
Last time around Barcelona started Sergi Roberto on the wing instead of Messi and this Saturday the differences between the two will be very obvious if you didn’t know that already.
The one key thing to look for is Messi shifting from the right towards the middle throughout the game. Although Luis Enrique starts him out on the left hand side, Messi is essentially free to roam where he wants and usually ends up in the middle by the time the game is over. Ivan Rakitic usually covers down the right hand side instead of Messi and Barcelona are perfectly fine with that.
He always seems to show up in the big games and expect him to do it again against Real Madrid. It will be Messi vs Ronaldo again.