The biggest reason to hope, Messi's great record in El Clasico including at their place. Past Barca celebrations at their place Madrid picture for our new "geo/cultural context" feature - Picasso's Guernica at the Reina Sofia museum: Cannot find the cool map thing with times but here's the CET and in North America that means standard CL time for this Liga fixture: 11:45 a.m. west coast, 2:45 pm east coast. Some confusion over Neymar status with appeal pending there was talk he could play: http://www.espnfc.us/barcelona/stor...ico-pending-barcelona-late-ban-appeal-sources But latest info says that they botched that with a late filing: Neymar's suspended & will miss the Clasico as Barça's appeal failed to arrive at the Spanish sports Tribunal (TAD) by 3pm CET deadline. [as] Assuming no Neymar we seemingly start Arda (but tough to start after being injured and no recent PT) or Paco. Other questions would be 3-4-3 v. 4-3-3. Best guess by me: MAtS Roberto-Pique-Umtiti-Alba Raki-Busi-Ini Messi-Suarez-Arda I'm more pessimistic than usual, think they win 2-1 but really hope I'm wrong. Card Count - last match Paco, Suarez and Pique got Yellows so they may have joined the "2 away club" or not, too lazy to look it up, time for bed: 4: Sergi Roberto, Alba 3:/8. Gomes, Umtiti, Busquets (8) MODS - please fix title - I can still edit the body but somehow not the title. Should be April 23 not 15. Thanks! Mod edit: done!
There is no way in hell we will win this with that referee , and i think everyone who saw him officiate in our games and in the real games know exactly what i mean , have no idea how no one from our side complained about him after the many times he kept screwing with us
They are meeting today to see if Neymar can play or not. Obviously RM are favorites tomorrow but anything can happen. If Barca plays with the same intensity as Wednesday, all they need to do is finish off their chances. I think RM don't have Pepe and Varane in defense so they are improvising Nacho which could be a weakness. Even though they played a day before midweek, they may be more tired because of the ET they had to play. Except for Ronaldo of course who just spent the whole game offsides waiting to score.
Bernabeu is home for us and we usually play against them there better than we do at Camp nou. I'm just not sure about our coach not screwing this up.
Except for Neymar if he doesn't play I'd expect the same team as midweek. Although LE may stick Masch in defense. I just hope he doesn't rest Iniesta again. It looks like RM may have Varane and Bale back.
Neymar ruled out, TAD could not meet but still released a statement making clear that Barca's attempt to find a loophole (essentially by filing their appeal after TAD's regular weekly meeting, in order to claim Ney could play pending the outcome of the appeal) would not be work. http://www.sport-english.com/en/new...-without-meeting-about-neymars-appeal-5989582
This is a hard one to predict. I could see us stealing a win on one hand or getting wrecked on the other.
Nope but Neymar is... judging from the posts in Madrid's forum, they are so terrified of him it's not even funny!
Sid Lowe weighs in: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nrique-barcelona-reign-remembered-real-madrid go Dubs!
At this point, the preasure is somewhat would be on RM rather than Barca. We;re out from CL with league title on RM hand to lose it.
Yeah, but they can just sit back and hold for a tie which is already a great result for them. And we all know they have no problems basically parking their Madridismo bus even in front of their fans.
I dont think RM will play defensively. Classico usually played at high pace, regardless the circumstance.
The ref is Hernandez so it will be waaaay worse , add Gomes and Paco to the mix and we are looking at a disastrous defeat
NO NEYMAR - Barca stand down from trying to time their way into a loophole. ALENA's Clasico debut, may you have many more and see the pitch today if possible. Goalkeepers: Ter Stegen, Cillessen. Defenders: Piqué, Mascherano, Umtiti, Alba, Digne, Sergi Roberto. Midfielders: Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta, André Gomes, Denis Suárez, Arda Turan, Carles Aleñá. Forwards: Messi, Suárez, Alcácer. I am changing my lineup prediction to the Sport one which I posted above/last night (so only change is Paco instead of Arda replaces Neymar). That allows Arda to come on later [since he hasn't played since the International Break IIRC] and either (a - bad Arda) pick up a bad foul to pressure our D unnecessarily, or, (b - good Arda) bail us out up front with a goal or assist/hockey assist. The yin and yang of Arda. Actually, as I think of it I personally realize we should sub on Arda only if we are chasing the win, but not at all if we are seeking to preserve a lead, but need to rest a mid (Ini or Raki), or sub out a forward for a more defensive profile (one of the old Keita roles, for which we lack a Keita, but I'd ask for Denis first, then Alena, then Arda, lastly Gomes, bur really Masch in mid before Gomes [though I think our new coach may well fancy that he can get more out of Gomes and he might just wind up being right in the long run, esp. as I think we only get 60 percent of what we paid for Gomes at the moment so selling not super).
Barcelona’s previous 4 managers -Rijkaard, Guardiola, Tito and Tata - have all lost their last Clasico.Today's Enrique's last.— Sripad (@falsewinger) April 23, 2017
The only thing we have going for us today is that historically LPB's over-confidence has been their undoing. edit: Oh, and it's Sant Jordi today.
I haven't posted very much lately, but if Barca actually played according to your predictions they would be relegated every year. C'mon, show some optimism lol. This is going to be a difficult match, especially without Neymar. If Paco plays, he has to take his one or two chances. If they win, the league is over. If we win, they will receive a 89th minute red card that has no bearing on the result so the media can say "Barcelona Defeat 10 Man Madrid". Or maybe Suarez scores an offside goal in injury time haha. Anyhow, not expecting much of a decent result in this one. The team seems down. Edit: I could use some Barca optimism too.
I honestly dont expect a win,mostly a loss. This team is highly unpredictable and without neymar,i dont know what formation we will play. No 3-4-3.a 4-3-3 will do,i will play paco instead of Arda or anyone else.