First time in 11 yrs, a Clasico sans Messi, Ronaldo
BARCELONA: For the first time in more than a decade there will be a “clasico” between Barcelona and Real Madrid without either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Spanish rivals meet Sunday at the Camp Nou Stadium with Messi out with a broken arm and Ronaldo far away in Italy playing for Juventus. The last time the game lacked both stars was in 2007, a 1-0 victory for Madrid at Camp Nou, when Brazilian midfielder Julio Baptista scored the winner in a 1-0 win for Real Madrid.
There have been 35 games between them since. Messi has lit up more than a few - the hat-trick in 2007, the two freekicks, and that run, leaving five Madrid players for dead, Sergio Ramos twice.
When he stayed down clutching his broken right arm against Sevilla last weekend, it was a blow more for the thousands that thought they were eight days away. What about his rival, then? Real sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus in July.
Ronaldo was Real’s all-time top scorer, notching up 451 goals in 438 games in all competitions. He led the club to fourChampions League titles from the last five available and was invariably the man who dug his side out of a hole.
Real have endured their most barren run in terms of victories and goals since just before the Portuguese joined the club in 2009. They have slipped to seventh in La Liga, and new coach Julen Lopetegui is in danger of losing his job after several poor results.
In Sunday’s Clasico, the onus is on Real to prove that life after Ronaldo does exist. A defeat would only intensify the storm clouds brewing over the Bernabeu.