SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID

EL CLSICO 2013

Once again El Clasico is here. Milions of people put a note in their agendas for Saturday, October 26. After the leave of Mourinho to Chelsea and Guardiola to Bayern Munchen we welcome Martino and Ancelotti to the most seen soccer game in the world. More than 400 million people will watch the game on Saturday waiting for Messi, Neymar, Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo to make them have a good time. Our job in this article, as we always do, is to explain you the secrets of the game to enjoy El Clsico from another point of view besides watching the best moves during the game, the slow motion replays, the bad calls of the referee or the amazing looking of the Camp Nou when the players will jump to the field. The Catalan Secret wants to share the secret of whats happening in the coaches minds. Explain you the ideas of how is every team going to play and what are the keys of the game for each team in order to make you feel like you are watching the game from the sideline, right in between of Gerardo Martino and Carlo Ancelotti. Get ready to enjoy El Clsico in a way you never experienced before.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID

By Pere Bascu CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST GAME Barcelona didnt finish his last game before El Clasico as they expected. Although the comments of different players after the game and the same Tata Martino were positive in terms of their performance, we could see different things that need to be fixed for the game of tomorrow. Starting with the defense, Alves will need to optimize his progressions from the sideline on Saturday. It is known how important his presence from the right side in attack is. But Milan was a good example of what can happen on Saturday against Madrid. Allegri decided to put on the field Kaka in the midfield slightly located to the left side of Milans attack. The Brazilian from the rossoneri was moving to Alves back at the beginning of every counter attack that Milan performed. Saturday that position might be occupied by Cristiano Ronaldo, the main threat of Madrid nowadays, the Portuguese is the most responsible of the last wins of the Spanish team. Moving to the center of the defense, we had to see another mistake of Mascherano, and as we always mentioned through our last articles soccer its all in the details. Just a small mista ke of Mascherano, not just because the bad decision he took with the ball but the following action following the ball trying to solve the situation he caused lead in clearing the space inside the box that Robinho used to gain his back and finish after a great pass from Kaka. Tomorrow Madrid will be aware to take advantage of this situations and Martino knows that. It is mandatory to not concede easy balls to opponent. Moving forward to the midfield we saw Busquets who, once again, had an awesome performance in San Siro making sure everything was in order and letting play the partners in front of him, he barely participate with ball in attack but he was especially aware where he was located in the field at every moment, ready to step up and cut the counterattack of Milan, get the ball back and provide it to the creators of the game. Iniesta and Xavi played well, but they were behaving in a different way they used to. They both were alternating their presence between Milans lines to receive and trying to rea ch the box entering from the behind but never worked because they seemed forced to do it. Its not their

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID game. That is why in our previous article against AC Milan we thought that Fabregas would play in the spot of Iniesta, to have a player in the field that feels comfortable playing between two lines located in the last third that can finish and is more dangerous attacking the space entering from the second line. Iniesta tried to do it, but wasnt enough. Xavi tried to change his habitat of the midfield by stepping between the lines, he received a couple of balls that didnt get further than keeping the ball in their own and keep moving the ball from one side to the other. Once again from The Catalan Secret we expect Cesc in the Line-up of tomorrow in the midfield instead of Iniesta. In the last line of the Catalan Team we saw lots of mobility during the whole game. We saw Messi really far from the goal trying to unbalance the defense of Milan and Neymar and Alexis playing more in the center channel than the outsides ones. For the game of tomorrow we can be sure that Neymar and Messi are going to be in. It will be interesting how Madrid will try to stop these two players at the same time, for the first time ever. The good question will be who will play in the right side, Alexis or Pedro?

LINE-UP In terms of the line-up for tomorrow is not easy to be right. There three main questions in the line-up that wont be solved until FCB and Real Madrid enter to their respective locker rooms. The main question is who is going to be in the center of the defense. Although Pique have been training in a side looks like he is going to be one of them. At this point Bartra doesnt fit between the candidates. The fact that Puyol and Mascherano are now available puts him again as the fourth central back of the team. Mascherano in overall complete a good game in Milan but when you deeply analyze his performance he had several problems with the ball that turns out in counterattacks that Martino dont want to handle. In addition Puyol played 90 minutes against Osasuna, a week ago and his performance was brilliant: 90 minutes, 0 fouls and 99% of effectiveness in his passes. Coming back to the rotation theory of Martino, looks like Puyol will play his 26th Clasico in his life. Moving on to the midfield, as we mentioned before the only question that we have is which midfield is going to be next to Martino tomorrow. Once again from The Catalan Secret we opt for the entrance of Cesc to the team. Iniesta showed a physical improvement in Milan but Barcelona will need the involvement of Cesc in the attack, by staying between the two lines of Madrid, attacking the space of Madrid defense from the second line and the high pressure to recover the possession, those are things that Iniesta doesnt seem ready for yet.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID In the attacking line the doubt is located in the right side, Pedro and Alexis are fighting for a place to join Messi and Neymar into the attacking line, and that is the best thing that can happen to you as a coach, to have effective options in different positions. The fact is that both options could work for tomorrow, there is not a transcendental option to cheer for one or the other. Alexis played in Milan and his performance wasnt the best he had in this season, in fact he was imprecise in actions that was being recognized earlier to do them really well. In Milan he drop to the midfield to receive from Xavi, hold the ball and try to associate and he was really unreliable. The advantage of Martino is that he can start with one of those and expect different behaviors that can cause problems to Madrids defense. If Martino is looking for width, Pedro is his best candidate, however is he is looking for depth to create more spaces between Madrid lines, Alexis is his man. Our bid is that Pedro will be player playing from right side of Barcelona. His experience in Clasicos and his scoring records in these games outstand in front of the good performances of Alexis.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID ANALYSIS OF THE GAME Lets now move on what Barcelona should do to succeed in the game of tomorrow in the different phases of the game. Organized attack As in the last games that Barcelona earn the victory the circulation of the ball needs to be efficient and effective. It is really important that Xavi feels comfortable in the midfield so he can manage the tempo of the game, which is not going to be easy taking in consideration that Madrids goal will be totally the opposite. The role of Puyolbut especially Pique with ball will be fundamental to beat lines of pressure and generate unbalance to the midfield through the numerical superiority in the midfield. Neymar and Pedro will have to spread the field as much as possible to allow Cesc and Messi play with freedom between the two lines that Ancelotti seems to align. It will be really important to avoid that Madrid start his counterattacks by finishing the attacks. Transition attack-defense As we mentioned in the last sentence above, it is mandatory that Barcelona finish his actions right away not allowing Madrid to run to the open spaces that Barcelona has while he is moving the ball from one side to the other ( thats why the circulation of the ball tomorrow has to be efficient and effective). However, it would really impressive if Barcelona can finish all the plays that they start. Madrid will counterattack because they will find strategies to recover the ball in targeted areas of Barcelonas formation. In those cases is when Barcelona needs to bring back the high pressure that Martino brought back from the closet where Guardiola left the high pressure after loss. The player who lost the ball must chase the ball carrier of Madrid, not tacking right away just stay as close as he can from him promoting precipitation and reducing his time in the decision-making process. After this, there is have to be a line of three or four players who identify as fast as possible the potential passing lines that the ball carrier can use. To end up with the phase of recovery, the people who is far from the area of the ball must be alert and active to anticipate any long ball to his back or into areas where the ball is likely to be cleared. Transition defense-attack This can be the key phase for Barcelona to win tomorrow. The lack of pressure of Madrids forward and the involvement of the midfield in the attack will provide spaces for Barcelona, a phase of the game improved since Martinos arrival. We could see these behaviors in games like Ajax in the Champions League where the speed of Neymar and Messi decided the game. It will be important to accelerate the process of creation and progression when Madrids counterattack is cut.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID Organized defense It will hard to predict how the game will flow, this Barcelona of Martino feels comfortable attacking after recovering and the Madrid of Ancelotti seems to want the possession of the ball although he doesnt have his best players to do it in the defensive line. While having it Barcelona will have to aware to close spaces between lines where Cristiano Ronaldo feels comfortable receiving to end his actions or force free kicks in front of the area ( a big threat for Barcelona, the free kicks and the corner kicks). Another thing that Barcelona will have to control and be aware of his behaviors is Modric. The Croatian is one the most creative players in the midfield, his role has grown since Ozil left to Arsenal and is more complete than Isco in the defensive phases. Busquets, Pedro Xavi and Alves will be the responsible to block, unable and disconnect the powerful left side with Marcelo, Modric and Ronaldo.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID

By Pedro Quijada Real Madrid faces the first classic of the season after the first two months of competition in which the instability and lack of robustness have been clear common denominators in their game. It is true that Madrid is at the beginning of the era Ancelotti and we all know that to start a project always has its difficulties and takes time , it is not unless the team shows very worrying symptoms , as discussed below , but can be summed up simple: lack of competitiveness. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST GAME In the last game for the team 's 2-1 win over Juventus in the Champions League, we could see quite clearly what are the major strengths and the major flaws of this new Madrid. It seems , after this meeting and previous ( 2-0 win against Malaga , also at the Bernabeu ) , that the organized attack offensive game is improving , especially when dealing better spaces around the field and width is achieved in both sides. Related to that, the right sector tactical behaviors ( Arbeloa Carvajal , Khedira and Di Maria ) are essential . Thus, not only manages to balance the offensive system providing symmetry lacking in previous games , but it gets diversify the offensive flow and generate danger also for this side, much less talented than that formed by Marcelo Modric Isco , and Ronaldo . This is the main improvement we observed in Ancelotti 's team , which clearly is growing tactically in recent games on offense. The match against Juventus also left us less favorable conclusions for the merengues : very difficult to control the game ( Juventus, with 10 players , created too much uncertainty to Madrid in the final minutes ) , tremendous problems in defense , both in forward pressure in the offensive transition, which is an excessive gift to allow your opponents reach at the finishing zone (Juventus , 10 shots in the first 32 minutes of play) , a lot of separation between the lines of the defensive line ... all deficits that against a team like Barcelona can be really hard to overcome.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID LINE- UP Focusing now in the previous analysis of the classic from the Camp Nou , we are going to try to anticipate the line-up that the Italian coach will put on the field and then discuss more deeply about the game model . In our humble opinion, the only questions that we see in the Real Madrids team are located on the sides. In a clear team building and demonstrated competitiveness problems , especially in the defensive phase , a good option would be to align for the two most intense and reliable players in these terms : Arbeloa and Coentrao . This couple , however , is the worst in terms of helping with the circulation of the ball and the ones that offer less offensive resources. It could be a good solution to the offensive potential Blaugrana though . The other option of Marcelo Carvajal is unlikely so finally , we have to evaluate the combination of both: Arbeloa - Marcelo or Carvajal - Coentrao . Given that Coentrao has not been playing regularly for their injuries and Carvajal has not yet match experience of this caliber , the couple that most probably will play is Arbeloa Marcelo. Arbeloa brings the defensive rigor that Marcelo doesnt have , and offensively he is limited to bring the basic offensive tactical behaviors needed for a player in his position. However, Marcelo is a superb option to start with ball and provides a lot of solutions with his progressions from the side , especially when he decided to progress with the ball through internal spaces. Moreover, with the only exception of who is going to defend the goal , I think the starting line-up will be the same against Juventus on Wednesday , although the Spanish press speculates with Gareth Bale. Our point of view is that, as in the case of Varane , his lack of rhythm will not make them competitive in the game. In respect of the other positions , it seems imperative Illarramendis presence , despite their level of play not being as expected. Its characteristics make it essential in this Madrid, since, Alonso , is the only midfielder who can play in the midfield as he plays , capable of occupying that position naturally the 1-4-3-3 . Not only is a smart player in reading and occupation of spaces, but has spare capacity down to get balls to from the first third area to build your team 's attack . Later we will see the role that can give Ancelotti in Saturday's game . That Khedira is going to play is out of the question , occupying its natural position , in front of Illarramendi , where he is rediscovering his best performance in recent games. The German is the different player of this Madrid: is the one who links the team and without shining through viewer's eyes , makes his partners better . To the left of Illarra , we think that Modric will be there . The Croatian midfielder is a pure and complete midfielder that fits perfectly to the requirements of that position in the target system although he is certainly far from his best level. Isco , who has been his level of performance that showed at the beginning of la Liga, has features more than playmaker and showed their defensive transitions difficulties and lack of defensive skills . If the left side of Madrid is the weakest defensively , especially if you play Marcelo with Isco and Cristiano , would be an easy pass for Barcelonas attack . Also, the trio Illara - Khedira - Modric is the most prepared to do better in this kind of game and dominate the second defensive plays and transitions .

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID In the forward line, besides the insatiable Ronaldo , we think that Benzema and Di Maria will be the other ones . Di Maria is picking a remarkable start to the season , regularly being one of the best players in every game. With him on the field , the team wins in width in attack and there are more spaces in the midfield to be used for other players. It has also significantly fixed his earlier stages of precipitation , is a real leader in the team's play in the final meters , thanks to his interior diagonal runs with the starting from the right side and his crosses with his left foot from the right side . Meanwhile , Benzema , the eternal question , for all the controversy that surrounds him , is a great player and so far , the best team striker . His work of the last few games is still much darker than brilliant , as he is the responsible for setting the defense to create space between lines of attack for his teammates , having less impact on the association

ANALYSIS OF THE GAME Madrid will plan a dynamic system during the different phases of the game, in other words, the players who occupy any of the lines are vary in each moment. So the drawing that is shown in attack , especially after analyzing the last three gamds is a 1-4-3-3, with Di Maria and Ronaldo wide open to the sides. With freedom of movement though. In the defensive phase, the set up is fixed by the insertion of Di Maria as midfield putting in the center Khedira and Illarramendi moving Modric slightly to the left fo the midfield. Ronaldo and Benzema will be located at the top of the team, although the Portuguese will be closer to the midfield than Benzema to be the first option to start the counterattack after recovering the ball. Organized attack This Madrid of Ancelloti wants to dominate the game by having the ball, associating through short passes and starting from behind. While starting the wide backs are wide and located at the same level of the midfield line. Illarramendi moves back whenever it is necessary to offer a quality line of pass for the center backs and became the brain of the attack, as Alonso was doing in the last seasons.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID The orientation of the ball while starting from behind is totally focused on the sides and it is performed by the trios done by Arbeloa, Khedira and Di Maria in the right side and Marcelo, Modric and Cristiano in the left. Obviously, the natural flow of the team is Marcelo who is capable to break lines of pressure in as many ways as you can think of, even through carrying the ball and dribbling opponents. In second third, the team is dependable of the individual inspiration of their players rather than collective mechanisms. Big part of the attacking is created through Cristiano Ronaldo who moves between the two lines of pressure of the adversary starting in the left side of the attack and moving to the center of the field in front of the opponents goal. Crist iano is one of the best players of the world in faking before starting a run to get free of mark and generate by himself spaces to receive. In the right side, the width provided by Di Maria or the right wide defender creates internal spaces that commonly used by Khedira. When the Argentinean or the wide defender have the ball, the other plus Khedira use those spaces by occupying them and taking advantage of it. With this movement, Madrid created lots of danger against Malaga and was how the first goal was born against Juventus on Wednesday. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOXwayUpciY).

Attack-defense transition We are in front of one of the weakest points of the team, by so far. The lack of quality performing this transition bring us back to pre-Mourinhos stages, where Pellegrinos and Schuster teams looked broken from the beginning of the game. This situation is mainly caused by two basic factors. The first one is the lack of involvement of forwards in the pressing after loss. The second one is the slow defensive set up of midfielders and forwards. In addition, the defensive line remains really far from the rest of the team during the offense phase which makes harder the control of the second play and allows the counterattacks of the opponent. In a scenario where Ronaldo and Benzema barely apply a pressing after loss, the work of the midfielders is a matter of live. For this reason what it would be ideal is to set up two lines of pressure really close to each other to be able to handle the opponents attack with warranties. However, that is not happening in Madrid, midfielders are more ready to tackle than swing from side to side and press in certain areas. In addition the return of the midfielders to their position is not the fastest one either, so it becomes embarrassing to see how easy the other team can reach the last third of Madrids field, with few passes and against few people ready to defend. Although Barcelonas game is not based on counteratt acking, a good previous reading of the situation by Tata Martino could give him a lot of advantage. The option of Alexis in the right side could damage a lot by receiving at Marcelos back and at the same time his defensive work could disvalue the great offensive quality of the Brazilian. On the other hand, the identification

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID of spaces of Neymar and Messi when their partners recover the ball to offer a fast progression to start the counterattack could be really dangerous for Ancellotis team. Organized defense Real Madrid lives inside a risky defensive paradox: Ancelloti sets up a defensive block that aims to recover the ball closet he opponents goal but his players have high problems to reach it; they barely recover any ball. The quality implemented during the pressing is deficient because of the individual defense mistakes while applying the pressure. In the elite, a high field pressure that is not efficient, it can turn on a big problem for the team but is your opponent is Futbol Club Barcelona, it could became a drama with big consequences . If we anticipate a smooth creation of the game from Valdes goal in front an ineffective pressing would represent that Madrid would live in a constant defensive transition against the best associative attack of the world, and we just analyzed how Madrid performs in this phase of the game. In order to face Camp Nous game, Ancelloti will have to think very carefully how to organize his defense. If he wants to keep his model of high pressure, he will need to adjust several things. He will have to identify where his team should bring Barcelona s game, in which spaces the team will have to press, which players will mark intensively because if Barcelona succeed he can literally destroy Madrid s structure. In addition, Ancelloti will have to take in consideration that where Barcelona can hurt his system is around the influence area where Messi plays. When the Argentinean receives facing the goal, it s very important to control that zone of the field, but its also important control the other ways that provides these balls to Messi. How is Madrid going to take care of Barcelonas midfield? Is Ancelloti going to allow Illarramendi to go out of his zone to press in front of Khedira and Modric to the responsible of organizing Barcelonas game, 25 yards far from Madrid s center backs, as it happened with Juventus on Wednesday? Seems difficult combine an excellent tactical defensive in a big space, taking in consideration how Madrids pressure is. Our point of view is that the Italian coach should step back his first line of pressure and propose a middle block of pressure with their lines very close to each other, negating internal spaces, avoiding Messi to receive in this area of the field and being aware of the long passes to Neymar and Alexis and that his goal will be to recover the ball in Barcelona s midfield with spaces to counterattack This is what Mourinho proposed and developed with that excellence that give him the victory against Barcelona, but it looks like Ancelloti doesnt support that theory. We dont have to forget that Mourinho lost 5-0 in his first visit to Camp Nou with a mistaken plan top lay against Barcelona before finding the Anti-FCB plan.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA REAL MADRID Transition defense-attack If there is something that Ancelloti really reached since he arrived is to unable the best weapon that Madrid had: the verticality. Madrid doesnt counterattack anymore. Madrid is not as fast as he was counterattacking. Now Madrid is known by pause and association unless when the scenario is as clear as the players play using their instincts. It is hard to believe that Ancelloti doesnt seem to want to counterattack having one of the best players of the world doing it. In the Barcelona side would be something similar to organize the game through the sidelines and look for crosses so Messi can finish. However, Ronaldo is a scoring machine, although he has fewer options than before. Its going to be interesting to see if Ancellotis plan will allow spaces to counterattack. The secrets to succeed for Real Madrid Propose a medium block to be more effective during the defensive phase and try to recover the ball to initiate counterattacks. How to manage the defensive transition. If the organized attack adds to many players in front of the line of the ball, as usual, and Ancelloti is not capable to improve the pressing and the speed of coming back to defend, Madrid doesnt have any option. The capacity of Madrid to counterattack. Although it seems something Ancelloti doesnt want to use a main weapon of his Madrid, there are going to be lots of times where Madrid will have to use this offensive transitions will be the main weapon based on how Barcelona will play. The great moment of Ronaldo. Cristiano is far from his peak performance, as every beginning of the season, if he has a good day, he can win the game by himself. The right side of Madrid as a dangerous are to access to the finishing area. If Madrid use properly his right side against the weak side of Barcelona with Adriano in the left side, Madrid can find an offensive alternative to the left side. The performance of Madrids defense. Ramos and Pepe are not in their best moment of their careers, if we add the fact that Arbeloa and Marcelona are not the most disciplined players to cover those spaces, FCB can find several spaces to break the structure of Ancellotis defense.

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