Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale - a subplot to the El Clasico

The El Clasico is almost upon us. It is that time of the year again, when the world stops to watch possibly the greatest collection of footballing talent assembled on one stage. This time around, the first of at least two meetings between the two sides, will be in the citadel of the Camp Nou.

And it is far more personal than ever before. The stakes are just as high as they have always been, and the bragging rights to the victor will be just as satisfactory.

But take a closer look at the two men who have generated more headlines this season than any other in the two sides, and you will see a tale worth telling.

In the famed stripes of the Blaugrana is the peerless Lionel Messi – now apparently the best thing to have happened to mankind since sliced bread. And while that expression is predominantly used as a hyperbole for the next big technological advancement, it is hard not to think of Messi as some kind of futuristic robot sent back in time to distract football-kind from the pathetic tweets of Joey Barton.

And while we mourn at Twitter’s inability to ban people for their sheer stupidity, the Argentine has reduced feats of extraordinary to just the expected.

At the heart of it all is Messi’s integration with the system in place at Barcelona. His awe-inspiring tale is one that has been repeated ad nauseum in footballing circles everywhere. But his biggest achievement has been in taking their footballing philosophy to a whole new level, thanks to the vision of mentor Pep Guardiola.

And so he stands here today, a son of the club as much as any other, and the best footballer on the planet.

Still, old foes remain, not least of all their eternal rivals. Somehow, the glittering white of Real Madrid has lost some of its shine, even with the arrival of Gareth Bale. Even if Cristiano Ronaldo (after learning that he was, still, the world’s most expensive football transfer) has asked a demanding Madridista support to keep faith in Bale’s ability.

Then again, this may just be Ronaldo’s way of telling them not to expect every one of their big-money moves to hit the ground running like he himself did. Quite the trickster he is, our Ronaldo boy.

The fact still remains that Gareth Bale seems to be the antithesis to Lionel Messi, at least in terms of that which has grown to become the lifeblood of the modern game – money. And while Ronaldo represents the huge pay-offs one gets from making such a move in the transfer market, Bale represents all that can go wrong.

Granted, the Welshman has been unlucky, what with the injury and the lack of a proper preseason. But the fact is that Madrid pushed for Bale’s signature, knowing that his best position already belongs to their talismanic Portuguese.

That, right there, is what the money circus has done. The Galactico adventure has had its share of highs, no doubt – but that is only to be expected when your team has, for years, contained a who’s-who list of footballing superstars.

Even they, the likes of Zidane, Figo and Ronaldo, are judged to have not taken this club to the heights that were first envisioned when they arrived. What chance does Gareth Bale stand?

The other illustrious names in the Galactico list were kings before they arrived at the Bernabeu – Bale is but a prince, striving to prove himself worthy of the throne. He now has to assume an unfamiliar role in a team that has, quite frankly, looked better without him in it.

Then again, never underestimate the promise of youth. Bale has apparently supported Real Madrid since he was a kid – a childhood photo of him gleefully clutching at a Real Madrid jersey surfaced conveniently at his unveiling as a Madrid player; almost as if it was an apology, or a statement, telling the world that this is why we are spending so much on the boy.

There are marked similarities between Ronaldo and Bale in the way that they play; and if the Welshman can gather the nous and the understanding required to perform a similar role on the opposite flank – that of an inverted winger – he could prove to be a far better option there than an already impressive Angel Di Maria.

He has endured much in his young career; from being considered a promising full-back to almost making a move away from Spurs when Benoît Assou-Ekotto’s fine form saw him become the first choice in Harry Redknapp’s team.

Thankfully, Harry Houdini Redknapp proved that he wasn’t just all razzle-dazzle with his dealings in the transfer market – and that he could see potential when it stood before him so willingly. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today Bale is on a quest to make some history of his own. The unassuming lad is not one to back down from the momentous challenge in front of him, even as a childhood dream has come to fruition. If he needed any extra motivation it could come from the accusation that he was signed merely as a retort to Barcelona’s capture of Brazilian prodigy Neymar.

Even if that may be partly true, Bale, on purely footballing brilliance, is worth far more to any team than in being just “a retort”.

In the den of their biggest rivals, against a team that continually moans at its reluctance to add quality defensive recruits, Bale could very well be raring to go if Ancelotti decides to start with him.

But will the Italian take such a gamble, on a night that marks the first step to Real Madrid effectively challenging for the league title?

For on the other side of the ring is a man who is a champion of all that good and true in this game – a boy, plucked out of relative obscurity, growing to become one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. The champion of the youth system that has Arsene Wenger welling up just thinking of the exciting young talent within those famed walls.

Against a team that carries on its shoulders the unwanted weight of a protracted transfer that has only served to highlight the pitfalls of getting carried away with the money game.

It seems like a straightforward battle of Good vs Evil. But life is rampant with those tantalizing grey shades, and football is no different.

Barcelona are no slouches when it comes to needlessly splashing the cash, as an irate Ibrahimovic will remember all too well. And Real Madrid has a pretty competent youth system of their own, judging by the names that have emerged from there and gone on to star in numerous clubs all over the continent.

It doesn’t really matter who wins, really, because the battle will rage on, and all those shades of grey will make sure that it is never settled on any one side. Oh, and Cristiano Ronaldo will weep, because even if he is single-handedly keeping his team alive in every competition, he can’t seem to generate as many headlines as an unwitting teammate of his does today.