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Barcelona faces Real Madrid in El Clasico on Saturday with Los Blancos heading into the match on the back of shock defeats to Cadiz in La Liga and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.
Yet the Catalan giants are well aware their fierce rivals can never be discounted and have already warned some of their young players to ignore talk of a crisis brewing at the Santiago Bernabeu.
According to Javier Miguel at AS, a Barcelona “heavyweight” took time out during Thursday’s training session to inform the club’s youngsters that it would be a mistake to write Real Madrid off ahead of Saturday’s big game.
Indeed the message from the senior player was: “You can never give up Real Madrid for dead.” Yet Barcelona will surely be relishing the opportunity of making it three straight defeats for their bitter rivals with a win at the Camp Nou.
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‘Baby Barca’ Set for El Clasico
Barcelona’s young players have been in the spotlight at the start of the season after impressing in the early weeks of the 2020-21 campaign. Ansu Fati, who is still only 17, has scored four goals already and is Barca’s top scorer.
New signings Pedri and Francisco Trincao have also caught the eye. Pedri, who is also still just 17, scored on his Champions League debut against Ferencvaros. Meanwhile, Trincao impressed on the right wing with a performance that will put him in contention for a starting spot against Real Madrid.
Youngsters Riqui Puig and Konrad de la Fuente are also on the fringes of the first team and have looked in great shape in training ahead of the match:
Un poco de espectáculo de Riqui Puig y Konrad de la Fuente en el entrenamiento del Barça. Me gustaría que Koeman los tuviera más en cuenta para esta temporada, sobretodo en el caso de Riqui, que está un poco más hecho. Talento joven en Can Barça. #FCBlive
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Manager Ronald Koeman is certainly expected to trust in some of his young players in Saturday’s crunch match. Teenage defender Sergino Dest could continue at left-back, while Fati’s goalscoring form means he’s expected to start in attack.
Real Madrid Boss Calls for Change
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane knows his team must improve quickly if they are to get a result at the Camp Nou after a disappointing start to the campaign. The Frenchman spoke to ESPN about the pressure he’s facing after their recent poor results.
It certainly does not help but in the end no one will change that. It is the situation of football, it is like that. I’m the manager and when things don’t work out, it’s normal that there are critics. Now what I have to do is find the solution to be able to change this quickly.
Now I have to think about the next match and prepare with the players because they are the ones who are going to be out on the pitch and are going to have to fight. How are they going to do that? My first thoughts are going to be positive ones. [El Clasico] is a good match, it’s an opportunity to turn things around and that’s what we’re going to try to do.
Los Blancos ran out 2-0 winners at the Bernabeu the last time the two sides met and held Barcelona to a goalless draw on their last visit to the Camp Nou in La Liga.
Barca will know that form tends to go out of the window when it comes to Clasico encounters but would certainly love nothing better than to pour more misery on their rivals on Saturday.
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