If there was only one rivalry to remain in the 21st century, it would undoubtedly be this one. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, the two biggest clubs of the years 2000 and 2010, shared the Ligas and the Champions Leagues maintaining a perfect antagonism around the two greatest players of their time, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. While, for the first time in 15 years, the poster will be played without one or the other, does the Clasico with the prestige inevitably started still have a meaning? From a strictly sporting point of view, this Sunday he opposes two teams from the top of the Spanish league table. No more no less.
Barcelona and Madrid no longer crush La Liga and it would be nice not to face the facts: the shock will not be accompanied by the same fever as in the past decade. On the lawn will only appear four of the 30 best players in the world (namely those selected for the Ballon d’Or 2021) when ten players from both teams formed the eleven FIFA of the year in 2012. Is that necessary for all that? divert from it?
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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo during a traditional Clasico between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
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A break and a relay
Certainly not. It is not because Ronaldo, Ramos, Xavi, Iniesta or Messi have set sail, it is not because Real and Barça have not won any titles this year that the clash is no longer worth it eye. Because the successors are already there and it is an intergenerational Clasico which will be offered to us on Sunday. “We no longer have Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, they will be missed on Sunday more than ever, but the level of our football is always a safe bet“, warned in an editorial Alfredo Relano, honorary president of the Madrid sports daily As.
On the one hand, the vestiges of the golden period for the nostalgic: Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Marcelo, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets. On the other, a team of young talents, among the best in the world, barely out of adolescence: Eduardo Camavinga, Ansu Fati, Pedri, Gavi, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Eric Garcia, Sergino Dest. All are under the age of 21, all international in the best selections in the world.
Ansu Fati, Eric Garcia and Memphis Depay during the match between FC Barcelona, October 17, 2021 in Ligue 1
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“Dream Teen”, the forced choice of Barça
His “Dream Teen”, the communication slogan launched by Barça to qualify his new wave of young talents, holds on his shoulders the last hopes of a Camp Nou disillusioned by the departure of Messi and the sporting decay of his club. A more constrained choice than a strategic one. This is rather good since apart from Fati, Barcelona will align in the midfield Pedri and Gavi, the two new headliners who embody the rebirth of the Spanish selection. Real, him, keep the kidneys strong and if the season offers the first clasicos without Messi or Ronaldo, it is also perhaps the last without Kylian Mbappé …
Pedri
Credit: Getty Images
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