Barcelona VS Real Madrid: How exciting will it be without Messi and CR7?

After several years, the classic match will be played without two of the most important soccer stars: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

Barcelona receives Real Madrid at the Camp Nou this Sunday, October 28 for the tenth date of Spain's League 2018-19. But it will not be just another classic, this time, both teams will arrive with adverse results compared to other seasons.

Leer en español: Barcelona VS Real Madrid: ¿Qué tan emocionante será sin Messi y CR7?

But, above all, it will be the first classic in almost 11 years without the two great recent figures of both clubs. The Argentine Lionel Messi (injured of his right arm in the most recent game against Sevilla) and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who went to Juventus, leaving a gap in the rivalry with Rosario.

Cadena SER of Spain reported that the last time neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Leo Messi played the game was on December 23, 2007. At that time the coaches were Frank Rijkaard and Bernd Schuster. The victory was won by the Whites, who beat the Catalans 1-0 with a goal from the Brazilian Julio Baptista. Since that precedent, both teams have played against each other 35 times and in them, the Catalans have won 16 times, the meringues 11 times and they have presented 8 draws.

Ole de Argentina reflected that the president of the League of Spain, Javier Tebas, confirmed that "the most attractive duel in the world of football will begin at 4:15 in the afternoon, time in Spain." That is, at 11:15 in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, 10:15 in Venezuela, and 9:15 in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico. It will be necessary to see which of the two clubs risks more because both will arrive with the wear of date 3 of the Champions League.

Maybe you're interested in reading: Why is Real Madrid vs. Barcelona still the most important club game?

How is Real Madrid without Cristiano?

It is not something that can be determined at this point because the season still needs a little bit more of time, but what no one can doubt is that the results so far without the Portuguese star, have not been as expected.

ABC of Spain, rescues the statements of Lionel Messi in the weeks before the start of the season in which he valued the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and the Spanish League in general. " I was surprised by his departure, I did not imagine him outside of Madrid or that he could go to Juventus because there were many teams, but Juve was the least listened to. The truth is that I was very surprised, but it is also a very good team," he acknowledged.

The Argentine topped with a phrase that surely did not fall well in the environment of the merengue team. " Without Cristiano, Madrid will be less good and instead Juventus becomes a clear favorite to win the Champions because he already had a very good roster and now they also add him".

And Barcelona without Messi? the numbers do not lie

The best way in the sport to determine the importance of a player is numbers. Therefore, we show the figures of both Messi and Ronaldo in the classics in which they participated in the last decade, making the proviso that Rosario accumulates many more seasons with Blaugrana.

Goal.com reflects that Messi has scored 26 goals in 38 games, and will surely increase that number, in addition to winning 17, drawing 9 and losing 12. In turn, CR7, scored 18 goals in 29 games (reflecting an average slightly higher per game) but in collective numbers, he did not do well with only 8 wins, 7 draws and 14 setbacks, that is, almost half of the classics he played, he lost.

Other figures rescued by the named portal, point out that Cristiano Ronaldo scored in six of his last 10 matches against Barcelona in all competitions, being the exact figure of 5 goals in total. On the side of Messi, a very striking number is that against Real Madrid 15 of his 26 goals, more than half, he scored in the Santiago Bernabéu, being more lethal as a visitor than in the Nou Camp.

In fact, for Messi, Real Madrid is one of his favorite victims, since he has scored 26, and only two teams have received more scores from Messi, Sevilla (29) and Atlético de Madrid (27). Goal.com ends by informing that Barcelona, in turn, is the fifth team that has received the most goals from Ronaldo in all competitions: 17. Likewise, the Portuguese figures include the team from Sevilla with 27, Atlético de Madrid and Getafe with 21 and Celta de Vigo with 20. Both figures can also increase for both players if they are achieved in more advanced stages of the Champions League Barcelona and Juventus.

Recall the most recent classic between both, played last May and which culminated even 2-2.

Real Madrid couldn't win against Atlético de Madrid

We can already say that something in the environment is not the same in the white team, with a crisis of results between the end of September and the beginning of October. He already played a couple of matches against Atlético de Madrid (his other archrival) and in none, he could win. The first was for the final of the European Supercup lost it 4-2 in Estonia, and the second by the league, equaled 0-0 at home, the Santiago Bernabéu.

With regard to the Atlético Madrid, the numbers left by the Portuguese star were forceful and perhaps that was missing in the two aforementioned duels. According to Mendozapost.com CR7 played 31 Madrid derbies, of which he won 14, tied 9 and only lost 8. In addition, his individual production was 22 goals and 5 assists, losing only two of these commitments in his nine seasons with the You meringues.

For all that, we believe that even though there will always be an attractive Real Madrid match against Barcelona, the absence of CR7 and what their goals and rivalry with Messi brought, the commitment this time at least will generate less interest. We will see.

LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano

Translated from: 'Barcelona VS Real Madrid: ¿Qué tan emocionante será sin Messi y CR7?'

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