Barcelona to face at Real Madrid Bernabeu tonight

Sports Desk: Barcelona return to action on Wednesday night at the Spanish capital for another edition of El Clásico against Real Madrid, this time at the Santiago Bernabéu in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup.

The Blancos won the first leg in convincing fashion down to ten men, and even though they’ve lost Cristiano Ronaldo for the next five matches (for now), Madrid remain massive favorites to win the Supercopa.

The Blaugrana were quite solid in the first 45 minutes, but fell apart in the second half and were killed on the counter attack. Ernesto Valverde still needs to make many adjustments, and all the positive signs from preseason disappeared once Madrid found a way to break quickly and hurt Barça when they lost the ball in midfield.

Toni Kroos and Isco dominated Ivan Rakitic and Andrés Iniesta, which is a worrying sign given Barça will need their midfield to work more than ever without Neymar. Even with Lionel Messi playing effectively as a number 10, Barça had trouble finding spaces inside Madrid’s defense and couldn’t control the game in the center of the park, which led to lethal counter-attacking opportunities for Real.

For the second leg, the challenge is to attack constantly while remaining defensively sound. After all, Barça need a 4-2 win or any three-goal victory to win the trophy, and the need for so many goals will certainly open the door for even more attacking opportunities for Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Co.

It seems like an impossible task to mount a comeback against such a strong team at their home, but Barça have won 4-0 and 6-2 at the Bernabéu before. Who knows?

Agencies



risingbd/Dhaka/Aug 16, 2017/Nasim