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Whenever there is more than one El Clásico in a month, it usually comes at a premium for both sides. In 2011, the world was treated to four Clásicos in 18 days in three separate competitions – a feast that saw 27 yellow cards, five red cards (two for personnel not even playing), seven goals, one Champions League Final berth, one Copa del Rey trophy and one cementing La Liga’s dominance.
This week, we won’t see any trophies won or any Champions League action when Real Madrid welcome Barcelona in the remaining two of three Clásicos this month, but we will see a final berth and the most likely contender for the league title.
For both teams, the back-to-back Clásicos at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid on Wednesday and Saturday are the beginning of the end in many respects.
In the Copa Clásico, the winner will be rewarded with a crack (we see you, Sergio Ramos) at the 15kg, 75cm all-silver trophy. In the Liga Clásico, a win for Barça will mean they can finally take their seats on the throne and wait for May 19 to be crowned La Liga champions for the 26th time.
But if Madrid win on Saturday evening and Barcelona start to unravel, like they’ve threatened to do several times this season, we could be in for a treat come matchday 38.
After an impressive 1-1 Copa del Rey first leg draw at Camp Nou earlier this month, Real Madrid manager Santiago Solari will be looking to make his first home Clásico a memorable one.
To keep their away-goal advantage, Madrid need to restrict Barça to not scoring in Wednesday’s second leg. However, in their past 15 visits to the Bernabéu, the Catalan side has scored in 14 of them, with an average of two goals a game.
During Barcelona’s past two Copa visits to the Spanish capital, they managed a draw and a win, scoring in both games.
Yet it is Madrid who have looked utterly dominant in this year’s Copa, scoring 21 goals and losing only once.
Barcelona have, in contrast, only scored 16 goals, losing twice along the way.
En route to the semifinal, the old boot of Karim Benzema paired with the new boot of Vinícius Júnior has scored and assisted in most of Los Blancos’ goals this season.
For Barcelona, the indomitable Leo Messi is still running circles around players 10 years his junior, having either scored or assisted in every game that he has played for the full 90 minutes bar two this year. This, despite not being at his clinical best. Maybe a rest on Saturday would do him good.
With the La Liga title slowly slipping away from both Madrid teams, Ernesto Valverde’s Barça will look to shore it up and focus on a first Champions League Trophy since 2015 and their fifth straight Copa.
While Madrid have had much success with their younger players in the mould of Vinícius, Álvaro Odriozola and Sergio Reguilón, the Blaugrana have preferred rotating their squad in the Copa and playing their big guns in the league.
Ousmane Dembélé, Philippe Coutinho and last year’s new signing Malcom – who scored in the first leg – will surely be given some time to impress Valverde, considering Luis Suárez’s lacklustre form since the middle of last month.
For Barcelona, sensible and minor-risk football will see them through; for Real Madrid, it’s all or nothing time – cards, injuries and suspensions be damned – as they finally have the chance to show the 81 000-seater Bernabéu, over two nights, why the earlier Liga Clásico, won 5-1 by the Catalans, was a fluke and why they are the reigning kings of Europe.
