The attention will understandably be on the newcomers
Saturday as the Brazilian star Neymar and the Welsh wing Gareth Bale are set to
play key roles in their first Barcelona-Real Madrid Clásico game. But while
Neymar works his way into the Barcelona attack and Bale eases into the Madrid
midfield, the long-running comparison between their top teammates, Lionel Messi
and Cristiano Ronaldo, continues unabated.
The scoring of Messi and Ronaldo has driven the Clásico
in recent years, and this season has been more of the same. Messi enters
Saturday’s showdown with 12 goals in 11 games — a remarkable rate, yet one that
still falls short of Ronaldo’s pace of 15 goals in 12 games.
To be fair, Messi has battled injuries this season and
played about 200 fewer minutes than Ronaldo. Messi said recently that he
believed he was over the leg muscle strain that bothered him earlier this
season, and he scored in the Catalans’ tie with Milan during midweek Champions
League play.
Ronaldo, too, will enter Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium in
top form, having scored twice for Madrid in its Champions League victory over
Juventus. Since Bale has also had injury issues early this season, fans of Los
Blancos have been waiting to see if Ronaldo and Bale can coexist in the
midfield, and Ronaldo said recently that he was confident that Bale, who came
to Madrid on a record transfer from Tottenham this summer, merely needs time to
fit in.
“People are putting a lot of pressure on him because of
what he cost and all that, but I don’t think it’s good for him,” Ronaldo said,
referring to the 100 million euros Madrid paid Tottenham for Bale. “If you want
to try to help him, don’t put too much pressure on him. Leave him alone.”
That seems unlikely to happen any time soon. Bale’s debut
in Spain’s largest rivalry is set to be covered in the tiniest detail,
especially after Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid manager, hinted that Bale
could start Saturday.
The Spanish news media have established this by seizing
on two remarks by Ancelotti — one in which he noted that the team struggled on
the right wing against Juventus, and another in which he stated that Bale
clearly prefers to play on the right and is back in shape — and that has led to
feverish speculation about Bale’s role Saturday. As striker Karim Benzema has
struggled, questions about how Bale could help the team’s offense have
increased.
“Yes, Bale likes to play on the right, and when he plays
he’ll do so on that flank,” Ancelotti said. “He’s ready to be a starter.”
Barcelona enters the match in first place in the league
standings with 25 points through nine games. Atletico Madrid is second with 24
points, and Real Madrid third with 22.
Culled from nytimes
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