Real test for Ronaldo & Co.
Madrid, Dec. 22: Real Madrid realistically need to end Barcelona’s 24match unbeaten run to maintain hopes of retaining their La Liga title when Spanish football’s two behemoths meet in El Clasico on Saturday.
Barca lead fourth- placed Madrid by 11 points at the top of the table, albeit Real do have a game in hand.
However, it was at the Santiago Bernabeu that Barca last tasted defeat in August as Real cruised to a 5- 1 aggregate win in the Spanish Super Cup. MESSI- ALBA CONNECTION spoilt for choice with his starting line- up.
Zidane is expected to stay loyal to the side that started the Champions League final in May with Bale only featuring from the bench.
Yet, the pace offered by Bale and Marco Asensio, who has scored in his last three matches against Barca, could prove decisive in the second- half. RONALDO, SUAREZ
BACK IN FORM Between them Ronaldo and Barca’s Luis Suarez had a pitiful return of a combined four goals in La Liga until mid- November as age appeared to be taking hold of both now in their 30s.
However, Ronaldo and Suarez now look like their old selves to add plenty more firepower to a fixture never short on goals.
Ronaldo has eight in his last seven games, including the winner in the Club World Cup final last weekend. Suarez, meanwhile is now La Liga’s joint third highest scorer thanks to six in his last five league games.
IS BARCA’S NEW DEFENCE FOR REAL? Ernesto Valverde’s version of Barca may lack the same spark as those coached by Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique over the past decade, but the results are just as good thanks to an exceptionally mean defence backed up by the brilliance of MarcAndre ter Stegen in goal.
— AFP