Giráldez: "This Real Madrid is better than last season"

The first classic of the season is here.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
05 November 2022 Saturday 06:33
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Giráldez: "This Real Madrid is better than last season"

The first classic of the season is here. Real Madrid and Barcelona meet this Sunday (6pm) in an Alfredo di Stéfano that, with all the tickets sold out, will experience the most absolute full house in his brief history. Despite the fact that it was only two years since the white team debuted a women's team, there have already been eight clashes that they have played against the azulgranas between the League, Cup, Super Cup and Champions League.

In all of them the victory has been for the Catalans, but Jonatan Giráldez warns that it will be increasingly difficult to win the three points: “Every year it will be more complicated. Because of how it has been strengthened, Real Madrid is a better team than last season. He has already shown it in the league –undefeated- and in the Champions League, eliminating an important team like City”.

Undoubtedly, the star signing of the Madrid team is Caroline Weir: "Her arrival is a qualitative leap for Real Madrid," says Giráldez. "From experience, from his ability to receive between the lines, to read the game, his good shot... He has fit in very well with the team and is having a great impact in terms of chances", values ​​the Barça coach, who recalled that his The squad has also strengthened well this summer and predicts a great duel in Madrid: "We also have players who bring us different things and I am convinced that it will be a very attractive game and that people will enjoy it".

Giráldez has not hesitated to recognize what he thinks will be the key for his team to add the ninth victory in this classic: “We have won eight games, but they have all been different and that happens by knowing how to read well what the game requires. match. We have seen a Real Madrid that this season has been able to play with different approaches. From what we've seen, we're prepared to counteract any kind of pressure from them, we just have to identify very well what the match requires and adapt quickly”.

Barça travels to Madrid with the role of favourite. Undefeated in all the Clásicos, the undisputed leader in the League… but the coach of the Catalan team takes pressure off the match: “A Clásico is always a match that generates motivation for players, staff and fans, but we didn't notice any more pressure. We've played very important games, in this one, it's true that if we win we distance ourselves further, but it doesn't have a higher impact at this point in the season”.

Both Barça and Real Madrid come to the duel after a few intense weeks of a double match between the League and the Champions League. A physical and mental load that has forced the teams to dose: “Chaining games and having a few days off implies a mental and physical demand that must be regulated. On a physical level, we already made many changes in the Levante Las Planas match, and in training we adapt the loads to each player, individualizing as much as possible”, explains Giráldez.

The Galician coach has, in addition to a suffocating calendar, a full infirmary. Caroline Graham Hansen and Mariona Caldentey were the last to fall. The Norwegian will be between two and three months away from the pitch, while the Balearic will return in a few weeks, if all goes well. "It's harder to find players with Caro's profile, in midfield we have more replacements for Mariona, but due to the impact she was having now on the game, in terms of assists and goals, it's a very important loss for us".