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Barcelona Midfielders
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We don't think that Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman will go with a three-man defense tonight because they will need quality personnel at the centre of the pitch to go toe-to-toe with the Real Madrid midfield.
Pedri and Sergio Busquets have done a good job together in central midfield and will need Frenkie De Jong to join them in order to keep up with Real Madrid's experienced midfield combination of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
De Jong has been in good form of late and they will need his calm head and technical finesse to navigate what is expected to be an intense midfield battle. Both Toni Kroos and Luka Modric have been in great form and Ronald Koeman will want his midfielders to not afford them much time or space on the ball tonight.
Barcelona forwards
Lionel Messi will lead Barcelona's frontline against Real Madrid tonight. The Argentine has been playing some wonderful football of late and has been extremely productive in terms of goals and assists since the turn of the year.
He did struggle to hit his stride in the early part of the season but has looked way more settled in recent times. He has led Barcelona's resurgence from the front and has played the biggest role in reviving their La Liga title charge this season.
In his last 10 matches for Barcelona across all competitions, Lionel Messi has scored 10 goals and provided five assists. He has not had much luck in El Clasicos in recent times but going by his current form, he should be able to make an impact tonight.
Antoine Griezmann is expected to be deployed on the right side. The Frenchman has been in good form and scored twice for France during the international break. Prior to that, he found the net in Barcelona's games against Real Sociedad and SD Huesca.
Ousmane Dembele will join Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi in attack. Dembele's pace will cause problems for an injury-ravaged Real Madrid backline. He will keep the Blancos' fullbacks on their toes with his propensity to run in behind the defense.
Dembele can shoot with both feet and his unpredictable nature is certain to cause problems. If the match does end up being open and end-to-end, he will have a huge role to play tonight.
Ronald Koeman is expected to shake up his system tonight as they square off against their bitter rivals. Their chances could very well depend on how his players take to the transition.
