At 4:00 a.m. Beijing time on March 21, the 29th round of La Liga, the much-anticipated Spanish "national derby" will be staged: Real Madrid vs Barcelona. Such a showdown in La Liga is only twice a season, also known as the "War of the Century".
In the first leg at Camp Nou, barca manager at the time was still Koeman, the forward trident was Depay, Fati and Dest, and Aguero and Coutinho were on the bench. Real Madrid's forward trident is Ancelotti's usual Benzema, Vinicius and Rodrigo. Alaba scored one goal in the first half, Vazquez extended the score in stoppage time, and Aguero scored a face-saving goal in the final moments. In the end, Barca lost 1-2 at home to Real Madrid.
This time the Bernabeu is fighting again, the Barca manager has changed from Koman to Xavi, the front line has also changed dramatically, Aguero retired, Coutinho joined aston Villa in the Premier League on loan, the three new signings in the winter window, Ferran Torres, Aubameyang and Traore formed a new forward trident, Traore's main position was quickly replaced by Dembele who recovered from injury, and Depay and Luke De Jong became substitutes.
Barca have won 6 consecutive games against Real Madrid, La Liga has lost 4 consecutive games in the last 4 matches, and the Western Super League semi-finals are 2:2 draws in regular time, and they have been killed in extra time, which is already 5 consecutive defeats. Of course, the poor record is mainly the combination of Setien and Koeman, and during the Valverde era, whether at camp Nou or at the Bernabeu, Barca won against Real Madrid as usual.
So, now under the leadership of Xavi, the new forward combination, can Barca end their losing streak against Real Madrid in the battle of the century?
Spanish media such as The Daily Sports and the World Sports newspaper predict that Barca's starting trident will be: Ferran Torres, Aubameyang and Dembele.
After joining Barca, Aubameyang scored a lot of goals, scoring 7 goals in 10 games, including 5 goals in 6 La Liga games and 2 goals in 4 Europa League games, which is the first contribution of Barca La Liga to return to the Champions League and the Europa League all the way to the quarter-finals. Ferran Torres wasting opportunities but also contributed 5 goals and 4 assists in 13 games. Dembele's stats this season are 2 goals and 7 assists in 20 games, making him the barca's assist king.
According to Marca, this may be Dembele's last participation in the Spanish national derby. Dembele's contract with Barca expires in June, and there are signs that Dembele will leave Barca. Dembele has played against Real Madrid eight times, including La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Super Cup and other venues, with a record of 3 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, and the two draws are for Borussia Dortmund, Dembele has not yet scored a Real Madrid goal in the national derby.
On the Real Madrid side, Benzema is injured, the injury is not serious, but for the Champions League quarter-final match against rivals Chelsea, Ancelotti will certainly not take the risk and let the French center play in the national derby. According to the forecast of the Daily Sports newspaper, the Real Madrid forward trident will be Rodrigo, Vinicius and Asensio.
Rodrigo has played barca 4 times, with a record of 3 wins and 1 draw, Rodrigo contributed 3 assists, and can be called the blessing of the national derby real Madrid.
Real Madrid currently leads the La Liga table with 66 points in 28 games, 10 points ahead of the second place Sevilla, and the result of the national derby will not affect the overall situation of Real Madrid's title race. Barca ranked fourth with 51 points in 27 games, three points behind third-placed Atletico Inletico in the second round of the minor, and two points ahead of fifth-placed Betis in the second round of the second round, and if they want to keep the fourth or third, they must beat Real Madrid away.
Compared with the first leg of this season's national derby and the semi-finals of the Western Super League, Real Madrid's top scorer Benzema is absent, and barca's front line has added three new fierce men, Aubameyang, Ferran Torres, Traore, and Dembele, who is in good shape.