Today, eyes will be on the Camp Nou stadium, not only because it hosts the most important clásico in the world between Barcelona and its rivals Real Madrid, but also because the match is accompanied by calls to demonstrate outside the stadium by the Catalan separatists, who are demanding independence from Madrid.
The match was supposed to take place in late October, within the tenth stage of the Spanish League, but was postponed due to the violence in Catalonia to protest against the imprisonment of nine separatist leaders, between nine and 13 years, because of their role in the region's attempt to secede from Madrid in 2017.
The match will be with the slogan of breaking the partnership on the one hand to lead the league, which the two teams top with 35 points, with Barcelona advancing the goal difference, in return, also to break the partnership of historical victories in the League during the two teams' confrontations, where each of them won 72 times, tied 34 times, and each team seeks to be The winner of the 179th match between them. And before the stage of entering the festive holiday season, the two teams will seek to resolve the meeting and the lead in the first place, with a statistical advantage for Barcelona, who did not taste the defeat against the Royal Club in the last six games, including the cup semi-final last season.
Likewise, the Catalan giant has not fallen in the league at home to Real since April 2, 2016, when he lost by a goal to Gerard Pique against two goals by French Karim Benzema and the current Juventus star, Cristiano Ronaldo.
And unlike the situation in late October, the loss of today's meeting will not pose a threat to any of the coaches, provided that it is not a humiliating result.
For Zidane, who was threatened with dismissal nearly two months ago, while also talking about his potential replacement who is now coach of Tottenham, the former Portuguese club coach Jose Mourinho, “Football forgot what I did before, I will not tell you that what was said ( About him at the time) it did not hurt me, because it hurt me, but I cannot prevent people from expressing their opinion. ”
For Barcelona, the Dutch national team coach, Ronald Koeman, has been mentioned to return to the team as coach, after he defended his colors as a player between 1989 and 1995, and an assistant coach between 1998 and 2000.
And if the dismissal rumors at the time were a nuisance to Valverde, the level of the team on the pitch during that period was a real concern for the fans and coach alike, Barcelona won only two games out of the first five.
At the level of the players, the most prominent absentee from Real Madrid will be the Belgian star Eddin Hazard, who has returned to the gym, but he is not able to play, and the Brazilian Marcelo will be absent due to renewed injury. On the other hand, Barcelona does not suffer from prominent absences, as most of the players will be led by Argentine star Lionel Messi and Uruguayan Luis Suarez, as well as Frenchman Griezmann available for coach Valverde.
3 things to decide on today:
- The two teams are equal in number of points in the "League" summit by 35 points.
- Each team has won the history of "Classico League" 72 times, and this match is 179.
The stars of Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi are equal in number of goals, with 12 goals.
Lionel Messi and Benzema in the "Top Scorer" struggle
Another dialogue that brings together the scorers of the two teams, Lionel Messi, and French Karim Benzema, as they lead together the top scorers with 12 goals for each player, but with Messi superior in the number of matches, he scored in 11 games, compared to 15 Benzema.
Benzema had remarkably awakened recently, and contributed to the riyal's return to strength, with the help of the newcomer, Eden Hazar, who suffered adapting to the royal club, but gradually entered the air before he suffered, earlier this month, an ankle injury that would keep him from the "Classico".
On the other hand, and since Messi's return from injury, he managed to regain the top scorers very quickly, and contributed to the continuation of Barcelona at the top.
3000 policemen to secure the match
Two days ago, the local authorities in Catalonia announced that about 3,000 police officers, along with private security personnel, would be allocated to secure the Classico, in fear of any targeting from the separatists.
The call to demonstrate about "Camp Nou" raised concerns, and the interior minister of the Catalan government, Michel Buch, told a press conference that the police "will protect the match and the arrival and security of the fans on and off the field."
Eugenie Salient, Commissioner of the Regional Authority of Catalonia, stated that a total of 1,000 Catalan regional police will be added to public and private security personnel, bringing the number to 3,000.