Final or final at the Bernabéu (9:00 p.m.) This Sunday's classic means this for a Barça that lands in the game affected by its disappointment in the Champions League. If they win this final they will be five points behind Madrid with 18 to play. It will still be difficult for you but it will come to life and you will be able to keep the dream alive. But, if he loses, his season will have ended on April 21. It's a bad thing when you don't even reach May with aspirations of winning a title. A defeat would distance them eleven points from the leader and the League would already be judged. Barcelona, normally the house of flying daggers, would remain on its knees, on the canvas and signing a week to start crying.
But first you have to play and not give up. That is what a Barça team will try for which everything went wrong in the Champions League on Tuesday against PSG. Quite the opposite of the immortal Real Madrid, who remained standing after enduring a spectacular harassment against City. If football is a state of mind, the white team arrives with a great moral advantage, with its coach making jokes, with continuous laughter in the press room and with the possibility not only of definitively getting the championship back on track but of dealing another blow to its team. main rival.
Because Madrid has already put two direct hits on Barça's jaw this season. The first in Montjuïc (1-2). The second, a tremendous 4-1 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup and with the clear feeling that Ancelotti's team did not want to do more damage. Gündogan emerged from the Montjuïc match, criticizing his teammates for not being more angry in the face of defeat. A Gündogan who also stirred up the locker room by censuring Araújo for his expulsion against PSG. The fire in the kitchen has already been put out, according to the footballers and Xavi. We will have to prove it on the field this Sunday.
Transform anger and frustration into success, competitiveness and judgment. Both the players and the coach, who returns to the bench in the League after a two-game suspension. After also being sent off in the Champions League, the classic represents for Xavi an opportunity to show whether or not he is learning to have a little self-control. With low heart rate, the player from Terrassa recognizes his mistakes but after the fact that does not help his team. The fact that the referee is Soto Grado, who stole a penalty from Barça in Getafe and sent him and Raphinha off does not help a priori, but the Blaugrana team should ignore the refereeing aspect at the outset. Do not get into issues that are not football and keep a cool head.
For the classic Xavi recovers Christensen and Sergi Roberto, sanctioned in Europe. The Dane has many chances of entering the midfield, whether through Pedri or Frenkie de Jong. The rest are likely to be the same as on Tuesday, unless the coach sacrificed Raphinha and the Canary Islands and the Dutchman will play. As for Madrid, Ancelotti can count on Tchouaméni, who could not be in Manchester due to cards. Mendy, who did not train this Saturday, and Carvajal have been in trouble since Wednesday but are at the disposal of their coach. Some changes are expected in Madrid taking into account the accumulated fatigue. He played a day later than Barça and had to face extra time.
The match crosses two sensational streaks. Madrid has not lost a game at the Bernabéu (it has only fallen to the dust once and it was at the Metropolitano). They have only given up two draws at home, against Rayo and Atlético. Meanwhile, Barça, struggling in Montjuïc, has not lost on the road in the championship. A draw this Sunday would save the two streaks, but the main beneficiary would be Madrid. Everything would remain the same but with one less game and with the average for the whites. Barça only has this final left. The one at the Bernabéu.
