Barcelona vs Real Madrid – First El Clasico of 2012 and moment of truth at La Liga has finally arrived. Barcelona host Real Madrid at Camp Nou for an El Clasico match that will almost certainly decide 2012 La Liga winners.

Barcelona / NationalTurk – Barcelona vs Real Madrid 2012’s first El Clasico game will be played in a few hour. As the judgement day is upon all football fans, the question is how does the first El Clasico of the year will affect Real Madrid’s Mourinho and Barcelona’s Guardiola’s futures at their respective juggernaut of teams ?

Barcelona vs Real Madrid 2012 El Clasico is indeed the moment of truth and all-decisive unless Barcelona win. If Barcelona win vs Real Madrid, current La Liga leaders with 4 points ahead of their arch-enemies then the decison and fate of La Liga would be in the hands of Sevilla or more likely Athletic Bilbao, however everybody gets the point, right ?

Barcelona vs Real Madrid : 2012 ‘s first El Clasico is one of the most important ones

This Barcelona vs Real Madrid clash is the one that is flying under the radar of more than 10 Clasicos we have seen in the past year or two. Barcelona vs Real Madrid 2012 could well be the most significant and bear the utter importance.

After both Real Madrid and Barcelona lost their Champions League semi finals first leg games in midweek, vs Bayern Munich and Chelsea respectively, football fans across the globe find themselves in absolute uncharted territory. Barcelona face the danger of losing consecutive matches for the first time since the end of the 2008/09 season and moreso for the first time in truly competitive matches under management of Pep Guardiola. Real Madrid on the contrary haven’t been defeated in consecutive matches since April 2011 , and guess who inflicted one of those losses? Yes, you guessed it right: Barcelona, the mighty FC Barcelona.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid : Odds favor a Barcelona win vs Real Madrid but…

Oddly enough, Real Madrid ‘s other defeat was against struggling Real Zaragoza, with that match taking place in-between their UEFA Champions League semi-final matches with FC Barcelona. The stats favor Barcelona vs Real Madrid for the win, but of course an El  Clasico can never be that simple.

Barcelona simply have to win vs Real Madrid, they haven’t found themselves in a similar situation for 2 seasons however when placed in that situation, Barcelona almost always succeed.

Since Pep Guardiola’s reigns at Barcelona, Barcelona only failed to win Copa del Rey final last year when necessary. Under Guardiola, Barcelona have played some outstanding football and attracted a vast number of praises for it, but ultimately, they have been a bona-fide victory machine the likes of which the globe has not witnessed in a very long time, if ever.

Let us heed to today’s Barcelona vs Real Madrid match and talk about formations and tactics, shall we ?

Pep Guardiola was dealt a severe blow as Alexis Sanchez has been all but ruled out of Barcelona vs Real Madrid clash. Sanchez wasn’t at his best on Wednesday night vs Chelsea but his contribution this season has been absolutely pivotal at times, especially against Real Madrid. Of course Alexis Sanchez was the man who got the equaliser in the Clasico in December, and some sections have forgotten his fine displays in the Spanish Copa del Rey, even if he didn’t scored a goal in either of those Barcelona vs Real Madrid matches. But, for the sake of this El Clasico in particular, Barcelona should not worry that much.

In Sanchez’ absence,  Isaac Cuenca would see a start for in a bid to stretch a Real Madrid defense that will almost certainly try to narrow the field. Whether Cuenca drags Real Madrid left back/ winger Marcelo out wide or Arbeloa is not that important, so long as that Real Madrid defense is stretched, Barcelona can be happy about it. Not only that, but Cuenca’s turn of pace and subsequent delivery could create chances not dissimilar to Messi’s goal last season in the UCL, assisted by Ibrahim Afellay. In that sense, Isaac Cuenca is a unique player as he can stretch any defense with just a few yards to play with, and create chaos with his final pass, a skill that might be indispensible against a deep-lying Real Madrid defense.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid 2012 : What will Messi do and how ?

then there is Messi…as for Lionel Messi, what can be said? Messi has evolved past the use of mere arrows; he can go wherever he likes, whenever he likes to do so. Let’s just hope it’s in between the Trivote and the defense. If he drops deeper he will be faced with a seven-to-ten man Madridista wall, and Barcelona don’t want that again. While one can be resigned to a four man marking scheme by Real Madrid on the Argentine star, others may think back to that UCL semi-final, the Supercopa and the hat-trick way back when. The world throws new challenges at Linel Messi every week, and he usually comes out the other side unscathed; in Lionel Messi, Barcelona have a WMD, one that could quite easily score at any given time, in any given situation. No matter what happens, it promises to be one heck of a clash, this first Barcelona vs Real Madrid El Clasico in 2012.

The only selection worries for Guardiola revolves around the potential for rotation ahead of that equally if not more important second leg match with Chelsea on Tuesday night. While Jose Mourinho is theoretically plagued by the same problem, it is worth considering the impact an extra day’s rest either side of this match will have on his selection, not to mention the athletic superiority of his squad compared to Barcelona. Furthermore, his “dilemmas” are far less problematic: Karim Benzema vs Gonzalo Higuain is a situation Guardiola would love to be in right now. So, while it is true that Barcelona need the three points far more than Real Madrid, the pressure is on Los Blancos to escape the Camp Nou with a favourable result. Lose, and their season and indeed Mourinho’s job could be in jeopardy. With that in mind, I think we can safely assume Madrid will be playing for the draw, and rightly so.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid : Frpm the eyes of both managers Guardiola vs Mourinho

Ever since Mourinho took the Madrid job prior to last season, there has been speculation as to how long he would stay at the Bernabeu. He has never stayed with any club too long and once he signed on for a club notorious for shuttling managers in and out, it was hard to imagine him being in for the long haul.

Earlier this season, rumors began to fly that Mourinho would leave Madrid after the season. He’d had his fill of Los Merengues and was ready for a new challenge, or so the rumors said. He would win La Liga, besting Barcelona and maybe even capture the Champions League crown. Once again, he would leave another mega club on top with his “Best Manager of the World” title intact.

Lately, the rumors have quieted, but they won’t stay away for long. If another high profile job comes up, Mourinho’s name will come up once again. He will be linked to a move away from the Bernabeu, but that is only if he bests Barcelona. He will not leave with the club still on Barcelona’s heels. Beat the Catalans on Saturday, all but clinching the league, and the path for his exit is there.

Barcelona have no more security in their manager, Pep Guardiola, either. He was rumored to be leaving the club after last season, but he stuck around for one more. If he can beat Madrid, and Mourinho, one more time and take the league, as well as maybe a Champions League title, he can take off on top. Get bested by Madrid and he might be back for one more go around.

Bearing that in mind, Mourinho will opt for Trivote, meaning starts for Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira and a return for Lass Diarra, purely because Esteban Granero is not suited to a wholly defensive role in the team and Fabio Coentrao is just not a midfielder, no matter how many times Mourinho opts to play him there. Furthermore, Fabio Coentrao may be required to start at left-back (despite his average performance vs Bayern) because of Marcelo’s uncanny ability to make mistake after mistake against the Catalans. Aside from that, it will likely be business as usual for Madrid in defense, with Sergio Ramos and Pepe in the centre and Alvaro Arbeloa out wide-right. Or narrow right as it will likely turn out.

But then one wonders how would Real Madrid attack in a Trivote? Ronaldo at CF? Benzema at CF? Higuain on the wing? Well, how about two attackers in Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema who each start a little wider in an attempt to disrupt the Barcelona defense, and a link-up/enganche in Mesut Ozil? This way, Real Madrid can attempt to limit the forward runs of Dani Alves, or at least exploit them if he ventures forward, and possibly goad Barcelona centre-backs to step forward as auxiliary anchormen if Barcelona have possession. But that’s enough about Madrid (check out SBN’s Real blog Managing Madrid if you are into that kinda thing), how should Barcelona approach a Trivote?

Ever since Jose Mourinho took the Real Madrid manager seat prior to last season, there has been speculation as to how long he would stay at the Bernabeu. He has never stayed with any club too long and once he signed on for a club notorious for shuttling managers in and out, it was hard to imagine him being in for the long haul. and Real Madrid is like a garbage disposal unit and the garbage being series of managers..

Earlier this season, rumors began to fly that Mourinho would leave Madrid after the season. He’d had his fill of Los Merengues and was ready for a new challenge, or so the rumors said. He would win La Liga, besting Barcelona and maybe even capture the Champions League crown. Once again, he would leave another mega club on top with his “Best Manager of the World” title intact.

Lately, the rumors have quieted, but they won’t stay away for long. If another high profile job comes up, Jose Mourinho’s name will come up once again. He will be linked to a move away from Real Madrid, but that is only if he bests Barcelona. He will not leave with the club still on Barcelona’s heels. Beat the Catalans on Saturday, all but clinching the league, and the path for his exit is there.

Barcelona have no more security in their manager, Pep Guardiola, either. He was rumored to be leaving the club after last season, but he stuck around for one more. If he can beat Madrid, and Mourinho, one more time and take the league, as well as maybe a Champions League title, he can take off on top. Get bested by Madrid and he might be back for one more go around.

Alas one is sure that we won’t see scenes like Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid looks on as Eric Abidal of Barcelona gestures after Barcelona scored five goals againts Real Madrid during the infamous or notorious La Liga match between Barcelona vs Real Madrid at the Camp Nou Stadium on November 29 2010 in Barcelona Spain.

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