Barcelona boss, Ronald Koeman, has named his side’s LaLiga El Clasico squad to tackle Real Madrid on Saturday night.
Koeman released a list of 23 players to face Real Madrid at the Alfredo Di Stéfano in a post via the club’s website on Friday.
Barcelona head to the game following a 1-0 win over Valladolid in the LaLiga last Monday, Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 3-1 in the Champions League last Tuesday.
Koeman’s men are currently in the second position on the LaLiga table with 65 points from 29 games, while Zinedine Zidane’s side is in the third position with 63 points from the same number of games.
Below is Barcelona’s squad against Real Madrid;
Ter Stegen, Dest, Piqué, R. Araujo, Sergio, Griezmann, Pjanic, Braithwaite, Messi, O. Dembélé, Riqui Puig, Lenglet, Pedri, Trincao, Jordi Alba, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Umtiti, Junior, Iñaki Peña, Ilaix Moriba, O. Mingueza and Arnau Tenas.
Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona side sit two points clear of Zinedine Zidane’s charges, though both sides are behind LaLiga Santander leaders Atletico Madrid.
Earlier in the season, Real Madrid emerged 3-1 winners of the first Clasico of the 2020/21 campaign at the Camp Nou, and Barcelona’s visit to the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano will be key in the race for the LaLiga Santander title.
There’s every chance that Saturday night’s Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be played at a very high tempo, and each team have players in attack with pace to do serious damage to their opponents.
On Real Madrid’s side, Vinicius Junior is coming into the game in fine form after his brace against Liverpool on Tuesday. Just the night before, Ousmane Dembele rescued Barcelona with a late winner over Real Valladolid.
Barcelona are preparing for Saturday’s Clasico against Real Madrid at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, with Friday’s training session being marked by a brilliant Pedri goal.
During a finishing drill, the 18-year-old midfielder received the ball outside the box and unleashed a thunderous strike that ended into the top right corner.
The Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano will host a Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid for the first time on Saturday, a few days after Jurgen Klopp’s remarks on Los Blancos’ temporary ground.
Klopp described the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano as a ‘training pitch’ upon his arrival for the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid.
Joan Laporta is back in charge of Barcelona, and in his previous stint as president at the Camp Nou, he oversaw many Clasico moments.
Lionel Messi comes into Saturday’s Clasico without a goal in any of his last six games against Real Madrid, having not scored against Los Blancos since 2018.
Before this run, Messi had only once gone six Clasicos without scoring – failing to do so between April 2014 and December 2016. So, going goalless on Saturday would mean his longest dry spell against Real Madrid since breaking into the Barcelona first team.
As Zinedine Zidane warned in his pre-match press conference, Eden Hazard has not returned in time to be included in Real Madrid’s squad for Saturday night’s Clasico against Barcelona at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
The list is made up of the following players:Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin, Diego Altube, Eder Militao, Nacho Fernandez, Marcelo, Alvaro Odriozola, Ferland Mendy, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Fede Valverde, Isco, Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior, Mariano Diaz, Rodrygo Goes.
Ronald Koeman has named Gerard Pique in Barcelona ‘s squad for Saturday night’s Clasico against Real Madrid at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
Read Also: What Barcelona Coach Told Messi After First Training
The list is made up of the following players: Ter Stegen, Iñaki Peña, Arnau Tenas; Dest, Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Araujo, Mingueza, Umtiti, Jordi Alba, Junior; Busquets, De Jong, Pedri, Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Ilaix; Messi, Griezmann, Dembélé, Trincao and Braithwaite.
Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman believes that some of the criticism that Real Madrid have received has been unwarranted.
“A Clasico is a different game to the others. Barcelona are doing well, [we] are on a good run, we are fighting to win,” Koeman said during Friday’s pre-Clasico press conference.
“Madrid have had too much criticism; they are in the Champions League and fighting for LaLiga. I’m not a supporter of the people who have criticised [them]. They have great players and it’s a great match. Both teams know the importance of winning.”
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane does not want to see Lionel Messi leave Barcelona at the end of this season.
“I don’t want it to be Messi’s last Clasico,” Zidane said during Friday’s pre-Clasico press conference.
“Let him stay, let him stay at Barcelona. He’s good there. It’s good for LaLiga if he stays.”
Everything suggests that both Ronald Koeman and Zinedine Zidane will shift away from their tried-and-trusted attacking tridents in Saturday’s Clasico.
As Barcelona trained ahead of the game, there was no sign of Koeman’s trident of Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann. Likewise, Real Madrid worked without any sign of Zidane opting for his attacking trio of Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
This Saturday’s Clasico is going to be an exciting game between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and both teams have hugely decisive players leading their attacks in the form of Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi.
Read Also: Ronaldo Fans Criticize Messi After El Clasico Humiliation
Each comes into the game in great form, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the outcome of Saturday night’s match relies heavily on what they do.
Follow us on Facebook
Post Disclaimer
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author and forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Anaedo Online or official policies of the Anaedo Online.