Real Madrid vs Barcelona: A squad analysis

Arguably the greatest game in European club football, the El Clasico supercedes even the Liverpool-Manchester derby, the North London derby, the Milan derby, the Derby of Italy and the great derbies played across Europe and possibly the world. The El Clasico is no mean fixture, after all it is contested by two of La Liga’s heavyweights and fiercest rivals -Barcelona and Real Madrid. The rivalry is said to reflect the long-standing political and cultural tensions between the Catalans (democrats) and the Castillans (autocrats), often compared by some to the Spanish Civil War.

The El Clasico is now less than a week away. And quite contrary to expectations at the start of the La Liga season, Real Madrid are currently sitting on top of the points table, leading Barcelona by 3 points with a game in hand. And given Real Madrid’s performances this season, it’s no surprise that Los Blancos are now being considered favourites for the season’s first El Clasico.

A glance at both the teams and there is absolutely no dearth of talent. Some of the world’s best (and costliest) footballers and their skills will be on display when these two arch-rivals clash at the Santiago Bernabeu on the 10th of December. Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid, with their physical, imposing and counter attacking style will be up against the more flamboyant, possession-based and slick passing elegance of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. As we warm up for the high voltage clash, here is a comparison of the two squads.

Real Madrid:

Looking at Real Madrid, it is obvious that they have a very good squad. They pretty much have a decent backup for every position. For Marcelo, they have Fabio Coentrao. For Alonso, they have Sahin. For Higuain, they have Benzema. One could go on and on, but the point to be noted is that Real Madrid have a deep and strong squad, that can easily cope with the rigours of both domestic as well as European competition with relative ease in case of injuries.

To illustrate this point, I’d like to use the instance of the Real Madrid starting lineup in their last game against Sporting Gijon, which they won 3-0 away from home. The team that lined up on Saturday was as under:

Real Madrid lineup vs Sporting Gijon

As one can see, Alonso had been rested for this game so Coentrao took his place as defensive midfielder. Also, first choice right back Alvaro Arbeloa’s absence due to injury resulted in Lassana Diarra starting in his position. And both the replacements did their job to near-perfection for the Los Merengues.

Now let’s assume a utopian situation where there are no player injuries or absences due to various reasons. So Jose Mourinho would possibly pick his strongest starting lineup as below:

Given how one interprets it, Real Madrid play in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-2-1-3 formation. With two deep-lying midfielders in Alonso and Khedira, Ozil completes the midfield by playing in the ‘number 10’ position, slotting just behind the strikers. Since Madrid employ a counter attacking style of football, the full backs have an important role to play and so Marcelo and Arbeloa are often seen venturing forward. Upfront, the trio of Higuain-Ronaldo-Di Maria keeps interchanging positions, the latter two doubling up as either wingers or forwards in order to assist the overlapping full backs.

Even though that will be Mourinho’s first choice XI, one can think of an alternative lineup in a similar formation that can prove to be an equally daunting opposition to most teams across Spain as well as Europe. One can compare both lineups in the chalkboards as under:

One might feel that the second lineup isn’t as strong as the first (which is obvious) but a team consisting of the likes of proven world-class talents like Kaka, Benzema, Sahin and Coentrao is good enough to beat most teams in the La Liga. What helps is that both the lineups shown above are evenly balanced, so it usually isn’t an unfamiliar position or situation for any player when he comes into the starting XI, which tells a great deal about Real Madrid’s incredible squad depth.

Barcelona:

The Catalan side has some of the world’s best players in Lionel Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and David Villa. The fact that seven Barcelona players regularly feature in the starting lineup of Spain’s national team demonstrates the brilliance of this side. Their trophy haul also justifies the immense talent they have – three back-to-back La Liga titles and two Champions League titles in the past three seasons, including a six-trophy haul back in 2009.

However, the side often looks bleak when injuries take their toll on the players. Even though Barcelona overcome lesser teams quite easily, they have struggled to beat some of the better La Liga sides, as evident in the draws against Valencia, Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao or the away loss to Getafe this season.

The most intriguing aspect of the current Barcelona lineup is the formation Guardiola has used this season. Due to the defence being dogged continuously by injury problems, the manager has adopted a 3-4-3 formation instead of the more fluent 4-3-3, also used in the 5-0 home victory over Levante on Saturday –

Barcelona lineup vs Levante

In the absence of first choice defenders like Gerard Pique and Dani Alves (who came on as a second half substitute) in the starting lineup, Barcelona played with Abidal, Puyol and Mascherano at the back. Also, Guardiola employed a midfield diamond of Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas, which is quite unusual.

Let’s apply the same utopian situation to Barcelona. Going by the current 3-4-3 formation, the first choice lineup of Pep Guardiola should be as under:

In the lineup shown above, Gerard Pique is reinstalled in the centre of defence ahead of club captain Puyol, since Puyol is no more at his prime while Pique is entering his peak years. The same midfield diamond formation is retained, since it enables Guardiola to utilize all of his midfield maestros to the fullest. Villa is restored to the left, and Sanchez is chosen ahead of Pedro since the Chilean offers more flexibility and width. Overall, it looks good enough to beat the world’s best.

But the problem starts when it comes to trying to find an alternative XI for Barcelona. First of all, it is astonishing that the Blaugranas do not have a single experienced centre back other than Puyol and Pique. Many have pointed out that while Barcelona have added Sanchez and Fabregas in the summer, the lack of options at centre back is mind boggling. Eric Abidal is not a natural central defender, and Mascherano or Busquets can’t really be hailed as appropriate solutions, though part-time. Andreu Fontas is a good prospect for the future, but he isn’t ready for first team action yet.

Even a slight glance at the midfield might worry Barca fans. Seydou Keita is only a squad player, while Alcantara is not up there to match the magic of Xavi and Iniesta yet. Dutch attacking midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, who can also play as a winger, has been suspect whenever he has featured in the first team. Here goes the comparison between the two alternative lineups –

As one might notice, Fabregas has been included in both the teams at the tip of the midfield diamond. This brings us to the glaring aspect of no decent midfielders in the second team – Adriano (a natural defender, who claims he can play in midfield too) had to be inserted to provide cover on the left side of midfield. Afellay has been pushed wide out, and Isaac Cuenca (who featured against Levante) also plays upfront.

Conclusions therefore to be made are that though both Real Madrid and Barcelona have world-class first teams which are easily the best in Europe, it’s Real Madrid who has the upper hand when it comes to the squad as a whole. Jose Mourinho is finally looking true to his word when he arrived at Real Madrid, that he is ‘normally more successful in his second season’. And with Real Madrid sweeping past opponents in all competitions, it is advantage Madrid for now. Can Barcelona stand up to this challenge and restore the status quo? Come 10 December, and we will surely know.