El Clasico things
It’s another instalment of the epic rivalry in Spain between Real Madrid and Barcelona, a football showpiece of colossal magnitude that grips fans across the globe.
Hosts Real Madrid who are on second position with 24 points, come into this match under pressure after losing their last match 3-2 against Sevilla at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The good part is that Rafael Benitez has all his players back from injury such that his worry is simply that he will have to endure on who to pick from his long list of galacticos.
The attacking quartet of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzima is available for selection. Benitez has no excuses.
But he has a good record against Barcelona.
Benitez has faced Barca on 12 occasions, as manager of Valladolid, Extremadura, Valencia and Liverpool. His record is W7 D1 L4. Madrid know that if they lose this match, they will be six points adrift of the leaders. This is why this match would be interesting.
On the other hand, Barcelona go into the game buoyed by the return of talisman Lionel Messi who has been training in closed doors. According to Sky Sports football analysts John Driscoll and Terry Gibson’s prognosis, Messi may start on the bench tonight.
But even in the absence of Messi, Barcelona have never looked like they lacked any fire-power as Neymar and Luis Suarez, La Liga top two scorers with 12 and nine goals each in that order, have proved more than handful in Spain as well as Champions League. Barcelona are favourites for this match.
Back to England, Liverpool versus Man City is the talking point today as Jurgen Klopp gets his toughest test yet as Liverpool manager. Liverpool were stunned 1-2 by Crystal Palace in their last league match on November 8 and would want to return to winning ways to move out from mid-table position (10) towards Champions League positions.
Klopp was all smiles during pre-match press briefing as he announced the return of Daniel Sturridge from a long injury lay-off . He is expected to be on the bench. His return is important to sharpen Liverpool’s attacking force in partnership with Christian Benteke.
It will be an emotional return for Rahim Sterling to the club that gave him the platform to blossom into a star. On the other hand James Milner will also have an emotional experience playing against his former teammates.
City were held by bottom-ranked Aston Villa in their last league match. They still maintained first position though tied on 26 points with Arsenal.
