Messi's unfortunate injury had an impact on Barcelona. The Argentine was Barcelona's best player in the first half of the season. The void he left behind was difficult to fill.
Before the start of the El Clásico, Messi was already enjoying the holiday with his family in Argentina. Perhaps his departure from the team could stimulate Ronaldinho's form.
Eto 'o was also a trustworthy element for Barcelona. He had scored seven goals for Real Madrid when he was at Mallorca. After his transfer to Barcelona, he scored three goals for Real Madrid. He was the undisputed nemesis of Real Madrid among the active players.
Moreover, Eto 'o quickly regained his form after his return and scored in succession.
Messi's injury had relieved Real Madrid, but Eto 'o's resurrection made Casillas unable to relax.
Although Barcelona had begun to embark on a new generation of construction this season, the chaos in the locker room was still not over. Ronaldinho and Eto 'o did not get along, and Rijkaard's conflict with the team's big-name star players had become the main factors affecting Barcelona's results.
If it had been two years ago or a year ago, perhaps no one would have dared to imagine that the media would speculate whether Ronaldinho and Deco would start in the El Clásico. There would be no doubt about it.
But now, Rijkaard would keep the suspense in the pre-match press conference and was not sure whether the two would start.
This in itself also exposed the problems in Barcelona's locker room.
Bosque was more low-key before the game. He emphasized the special nature of the El Clásico and believed that Real Madrid's 16-game winning streak could not be used as an advantage in the game at Camp Nou, especially considering that Barcelona had only lost two home games in La Liga in the past, and both were losses to Atlético Madrid.
On the night of November 23rd, Camp Nou was full of stars.
Five hundred reporters from more than a hundred countries had already found a place in the stadium, ready to live broadcast or record every bit of the 232nd El Clásico.
The players of Real Madrid and Barcelona lined up in the players' tunnel, waiting to play.
Qin Xiong, wearing the number 9 shirt, stood behind Raúl. He looked straight ahead and was in a fighting stance.
When he walked into the stadium, a large number of Barcelona fans booed him from the stands closer to Qin Xiong.
The boos did not contain any sarcasm or ridicule. They just wanted to disturb Qin Xiong's mental state so that he could not perform at his best.
Qin Xiong turned a deaf ear to him and stepped into the stadium with his teammates for the kickoff ceremony.
"Welcome to the Camp Nou Stadium. The 232nd Spanish Derby will be played today. Real Madrid has already secured the La Liga title with 16 consecutive league wins, and they are 14 points ahead of their arch-rival, Barcelona!
Even if Barcelona won at home today, they could only narrow the gap to 11 points. It would still be very difficult to catch up in the second half of the league.
However, considering the terrifying momentum of Real Madrid's 25-game winning streak since the start of the new season, it would not be easy for Barcelona to end Real Madrid's winning streak.
The worse news was that Messi was injured before the El Clásico. Messi, who had gradually become Barcelona's leader this season, could not play, which would inevitably reduce the pressure on Real Madrid.
Below is the starting list for both sides.
Barcelona starting 433.
Goalkeeper: Valdés.
Defenders: Puyol, Milito, Márquez, Abidal.
Midfielders: Yaya Touré, Deco, Xavi.
Forwards: Iniesta, Eto 'o, Ronaldinho.
Real Madrid starting 442.
Goalkeeper: Casillas.
Defenders: Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze.
Midfielders: Robinho, Diarra, Guti, Snede.
Forwards: Qin Xiong, Raúl.
The game is about to start. Let's look forward to what kind of excitement the 232nd Spanish Derby will present! "
Although Real Madrid came to the Camp Nou with an unparalleled strength, Real Madrid's posture was a little low after the game started.
Because this was the Spanish Derby, a battle between arch-rivals.
The meaning of the game, the level of competition, and the level of competition between skills and tactics determined that this was not an ordinary game.
The team needed to be more cautious.
On the other hand, Barcelona had completely exposed the weakness of manager Rijkaard in this season's high-level competition.
There was nothing new in the command and the tactical setup was mediocre. He was still going the same way, relying on the individual play of the star players.
When Messi was out due to injury and Ronaldinho's form was getting worse and worse, Barcelona's skills and tactics could not be seen as superb or obvious.
In the fourth minute of the game, Ronaldinho received a long pass from Abidal in the backfield. After stopping the ball, he intended to break through Ramos. From being beaten by Ronaldinho in a single game two seasons ago to his improved performance last season, Ramos' progress was obvious to all.
On the contrary, Ronaldinho's form had declined since the start of last season. Due to his lack of restraint and restraint in his private life, it had led to an obvious decline in his physical condition. There might not be too much of a problem with his technical ability on the field, but when it came to the technical performance that required his physical condition to support, he had fallen from super-class to first-class.
The most obvious difference was that his breakthroughs in the past were so explosive that he could crush his opponents, and his continuous changes of direction made his opponents dizzy and give him their knees.
But now?
Continuous changes of direction in a small area had become rare, and explosive acceleration to crush was even more impossible. Most of the time, he would fail to break through and then complain that the opponent was fouling.
Ramos accurately blocked Ronaldinho's connection with the football in his first head-on confrontation with Ronaldinho!
Then Ramos did not control the ball. He just blocked Ronaldinho and then let Pepe control the ball.
Pepe, who was participating in the El Clásico for the first time, seemed a little nervous. Eto 'o was still a long distance away from him, so he hurriedly kicked the football out of the siege!
The big kick allowed the football to return to Barcelona's feet.
Touré immediately passed the ball diagonally to Xavi after he controlled the ball in the midfield.
Xavi looked ahead and then passed the ball to Ronaldinho.
Just through this brief development of the offensive and defensive situation, it could be seen that Barcelona was still using Ronaldinho as the core of the front field to organize the offense.
Rijkaard seemed to lack confidence in his tactical setup to defeat Bosque.
He pinned his hopes on Ronaldinho.
He was looking forward to Ronaldinho, who was the champion of the three armies, exploding with amazing energy and breaking down Real Madrid's defensive line with his own strength.
However, after Ronaldinho was forced to pass the ball by Diarra during the horizontal dribble and could not pass the ball to Eto 'o, Real Madrid's defensive players were more confident.
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