El Clasico 2018/19: 4 Players who could start in Messi's position for Barcelona

#2 Ousmane Dembele

The Frenchman might have won the FIFA World Cup over the summer, but Dembele's career has failed to flourish ever since he joined Barcelona last season. However, he is in contention because he has already played in the right wing in a couple of games this season, against Athletic Bilbao and Seville.

Dembele has scored 5 goals from 11 appearances so far this season, but all of his goals have come while starting from the left attacking position. Nevertheless, the youngster is equally adept at playing in the right attacking position and has the necessary speed and trickery to cause the opposition enough trouble on his day. Perhaps his lack of consistency would be the only concern, but Dembele gives Barcelona a great option ahead of the El Clasico.

Against Real Madrid, Dembele could get a run in if Valverde decides to go all out for the win at Nou Camp, and the Frenchman has the ability to cause the Real Madrid defence some serious trouble.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

Know More

Edited by Sundaresh Kumar