Saturday brings the start of three weeks of El Clásico overload, a series of four matchups between the bitter Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid that will help decide a season’s worth of competitions: the Spanish league, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.
Each of the games has its own attraction and ramifications, and its own singular importance, but is any one bigger than the other? Or should they just be viewed as a soccerphile’s dream, a reason to plop down in front of the TV every few days and count one’s blessings?
Barcelona at Real Madrid, La Liga, Saturday: No less an authority than Johan Cruyff argues that the first matchup is the most critical.
“The most important thing is always the league, it’s a long-distance thing,” Cruyff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. “You don’t need to be lucky; you have to play well the whole way,”
“In the Champions League, you can have injuries, a little luck, a little bad luck — so a lot of things can happen in a short competition. So, for me, the league is always very important.”
But with Barcelona eight points up in La Liga with only seven rounds to go, and with Real Madrid Manager José Mourinho having basically thrown in the towel in that race two weeks ago, Cruyff would say that, wouldn’t he?
But because the first Clásico will set the tone for the ones lined up behind it — and because Barcelona won the first meeting in La Liga, 5-0 — he may be on to something.
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, Copa del Rey final at Valencia, April 20: It’s fair to say that the Copa del Rey trophy is the least prestigious of the three up for grabs between these teams before the end of May, but Barcelona certainly won’t turn up its nose: it is in a better position to win the treble than Real Madrid this season but can’t do it without first claiming this first prize.
This final will be the only one of the four matchups played on a neutral field, Only one in which two teams will walk in and only one will walk out with the silverware. So for pure winner-take-all, let’s-settle-this-tonight intensity, these 90 minutes have their own special appeal. Barcelona at Real Madrid, Champions League semifinals, first leg, April 27.
Mourinho more or less put all his eggs in the Champions League basket a few weeks ago, but he has won the tournament with Porto and Inter Milan and probably thinks he can do it again. And he might be right: while Real Madrid’s most dangerous players (Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, etc.) have been getting healthy over the past several weeks, a few of Barcelona’s key defenders have gone missing though injury (Carles Puyol) or illness (Eric Abidal). Having the first leg of the Champions League semifinal in Madrid could be a huge advantage for Mourinho, especially if his team can stake him to a healthy lead.
Real Madrid at Barcelona, Champions League semifinals, second leg, May 3: What will the mood be at the Nou Camp when Round 4 caps three weeks of Clásicos: Bouyant or panicked? Enraged or resigned? Will this final matchup be an crowning moment for Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, or a face-saving one in front of 100,000-plus fans? Messi, for one, seems to live for moments like this, to always rise to the occasion, at least when he’s wearing his Barcelona shirt. But if Real Madrid has built some momentum, will he and his game-wear, injury-plagued team have the strength to push back?
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