EL CLASICO : Another Ronaldo vs Messi duel on the offing but the spectre of Neymar,the bite of Suarez and the trickery of Bale and James awaits

The star cast in the first clasico of the season can give the constellation of stars in the Kodak Studios in Los Angeles a good run of their money. Step up senors Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez. They are worth, in terms of football economics more than the GDP of many countries. They offer goals galore, trickeries more than a trickster can conjure and innumerable individual awards and recognitions.

So with such array of glittering attacking talent all set to grace the Bernabeu, with Luis Suarez facing his potential debut in perhaps the greatest and most glamorous club match in the world after his infamous incident in the world cup the Barcelona defence is a key talking point. They have kept a La Liga record of 8 consecutive clean sheets and interestingly the defence was considered to be the Achilles heels of the Catalans. But the otherwise impregnable Catalan defence conceded three times when they were subjected to extreme pressure vs Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, and that it wont have gone unnoticed in the Spanish Capital.

Real Madrid have recovered from a poor start in the season to be in ruthless form off late, winning ( games on a trot scoring goals for fun with Ballon d’or winner Cristiano Ronaldo in irresistible form having outscored many teams in the process. It is not even the end of October, and the marauding Portuguese has already netted 20 times this season.

On the other hand Barceona’s little genius is on the cusp of history. What better occasion and venue to be the top scorer in La Liga? He has not been in his best form, but geniuses need such occasions to roar back.

But concerns still remain for Real. Their defence looks shaky, and without the presence of Xabi Alonso they lack a balance in the midfield. But the “side cast” in this game comprising of the likes of Toni Kroos, Luca Modric, Andres Iniesta, Javier Mascherano and Ivan Rakitic can decide the game with one moment of inspiration and when they have such forwards operating in front of them its a proposition a midfielder will dream of.

It is always difficult to predict the outcome of such a game featuring two evenly matched sides. Small minute details can decide a game. It might also come down to a referring decision. Whatever happens we must enjoy such a game featuring players of such ilk. El Clasico should live up to its billing.

-Ricky Jana [Ricky is a Football Analyst with Sportz Cosmos. You can reach him at the gmail id: sportzcosmos]