Real Madrid vs. Barcelona - Preview

"They know what they have to do", it\'s written on the home page on the official site of Barcelona. El Clasico is a historical match and I think it\'s not neccessary to talk much about stats from the previous meetings, it\'s enough to say just few words since Guardiola and Mourinho came to the bench.

Even if Real Madrid are dominating against Barcelona at home, with amazing record till now (50-15-16), it\'s completely different since Pep Guardiola came from the Barcelona B to manage the first team. He is unbeaten at Santiago Bernabeu, he managed the Catalans to one of their best wins at this stadium 2-6. So, the only way to keep the step with the Catalans to bring the "Special One" on the bench. Despite his character, I really respect his work and I admit that he is one of the best managers at present time. Although, I include here Pep Guardiola because since he came as first manager of Barcelona, many things have changed in present modern football. Honestly, the only

reason that I give Pep more advantage to Mourinho is only about politeness, elegance and kindness.

Enough about the managers, let\'s take a look on the match.

If we take a look on both team formations, they are similar 4-3-3 but Barcelona\'s midfielders are more attacking minded. Well, you can usually see Barcelona\'s defenders somewhere on the middle of the field which means that they are more dominating and have the ball possession more than their opponent, while Real Madrid last line is closer to Iker and their midfielders are more like DM and CM if are playing Xabi Alonso, Khedira and Diarra. The other option is two of them like DM or CM and Ozil or Kaka like typical attacking midfielder. I don\'t know which of these options will Mourinho decide to play, definitely there will be Ronaldo and Di Maria on the wings, one of Benzema or Higuain like CF, and the absence of Ricardo Carvalho means that Pepe and Sergio Ramos will start like CB and Arbeloa and Marcelona on the sides.

On the contrary, Guardiola have plenty of options and I am not sure which one will choose to be in the starting line. Maybe he will play with all Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Busquets, maybe we will see Villa and Sanchez together with Messi upfront, I really don\'t know. But one thing I am sure, Barcelona will never give up in any circumstances from their typical 4-3-3 formation, whole players are well experienced, same as their opponents, this is historic match for Xavi as this will be his 600th official appearance for Barcelona, and the matter that Real Madrid will not play defensively against the Catalans it promises that we will see an entertaining match tonight!