Two holding midfielders or three? Luka Modric, Mesut Ozil or Kaka? How about two of them? Would Madrid dare to play all three? Los Blancos travel to the Camp Nou on Sunday night for their first La Liga clash of the season against old foes Barcelona. The pre-match talk is all about how Jose Mourinho will line his men up against Tito Vilanova's in what's already a crucial clash not only for pride and bragging rights, but for the title too.

• Preview: Real Madrid v Barcelona

• Xavi: Clasico won't decide La Liga

• Jose: It's just another game

• Blog: Are Barca ready?

• Blog: Pressure is on Madrid


Eight points is the difference between the Blaugrana and Blancos after just six games of the season. Vilanova has steered his side to six victories from six in the league so far, and nine wins from ten in all competitions since taking over from Pep Guardiola. His only defeat? A 2-1 loss at Real Madrid that saw Mourinho and his men win the first trophy of the season in the Super Copa. In contrast Los Blancos have started sluggishly and only started to show their record-breaking form of last season in the last few weeks - that form may have come at just the right time.

While you'd be foolish to write-off the title race after seven matches in any competition, victory for Barca on Sunday would be like sending Tiger Woods down the eighteenth hole with a two-shot lead to win The Masters (although that may not be the best comparison given last week's Ryder Cup). Vilanova's side won't be celebrating league glory on the back of three points nor would Madrid throw in the towel, but it'd make their retention of La Liga extremely difficult in a league where the margins are usually so tight between the dominating top two.

Barca players were always going to play down the importance of the game in the context of the whole season, to avoid shooting themselves in the foot later in the season. "A victory for us will not settle the Liga title," said Cesc Fabregas. "Firstly because it's far too early in the season and secondly because it's Real Madrid we are talking about here.” Mourinho, too, has called the clash "only another three points" as he tries to take the pressure away from his players in what's undoubtedly a key game.

But the 'Special One' may well be licking his lips ahead of the trip to Catalonia, something pretty much unthinkable just a few weeks ago when Los Blancos slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Sevilla - their second in four league matches at the time. While Madrid's form has clearly improved since then, highlighted with two wins in four days bringing nine goals and two Cristiano Ronaldo hat-tricks, Barca, although winning all six of their league games so far, have big defensive problems ahead of the first Clasico of the campaign.

Carles Puyol, Barca's experienced warrior, will definitely be out after suffering a shoulder injury at Benfica in midweek, and his usual centre-back partner Gerard Pique is expected to be missing, too. Even if the former Manchester United man does get the nod from the physio to play on Sunday, he'll be far from 100 per cent. That's Barca's main two centre-backs out. Their replacements? Two players who've played most of their professional careers in midfield in Javier Mascherano and Alex Song. While Mascherano has developed into a pretty dependable centre-back since his arrival from Liverpool, Song has yet to do the same and was all over the place in Seville last weekend.

That likely centre-back pairing has got to be music to the ears of players such as Ronaldo, Angel di Maria and whoever else gets the nod to start in Madrid's attack. It's also got to be music to the ears of Mourinho, who needs the three points. A fortnight ago he may well have been thinking of getting out of the Camp Nou undefeated as a relative success, despite it maintaining Barca's early dominance, but now he's got to be thinking of leaving with what would be a crucial win.

Any thoughts of a three-man defensive midfield, then, should probably be put to bed. The talk has been of Xabi Alonso linking with Sami Khedira and Michael Essien, who'd be playing in his first Clasico, to snuff out Barca's tika-taka football through the middle. The truth of the matter is, Mourinho is yet to install this tactic with his Madrid side at the Camp Nou. The only time he has used it was the 2-0 home loss in the Champions League with Pepe playing 'chopper' in the midfield. He promptly got sent-off and the rest was history.

Now Mourinho's problem, albeit a more positive one, is which attacking players to use this weekend. The tried-and-tested duo of Alonso and Khedira are expected to play in front of the back four, but who will support the forward line? Ronaldo is a no-brainer, and one of Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema will lead the line. Angel di Maria is finding form and has always caused problems for the Barca defence, so who will line-up in the 'hole'? Modric, Ozil and Kaka seems to have been the hierarchy so-far this term, although the Croatian has also played alongside Alonso in Khedira's absence.

With Ozil out of favour this season with his manager - and Sergio Ramos seemingly showing his support for the German by wearing his number 10 jersey underneath his own after he was substituted at half-time during the win over Deportivo - a betting man would go with Modric to play in his first-ever Clasico league game. Kaka really threw the cat amongst the pigeons with his five-star performance against Ajax in midweek, however. The Brazilian was back to his best and has given Mourinho a real selection headache not just for this weekend but for the rest of the season.

It's a positive, although tricky, position for Mourinho and Madrid to be in. Three players, all capable of magic, all desperate to play at the Camp Nou. They all know, too, that a top performance in the Barca cauldron will probably make them their boss's favourite in that position for the remainder of the season, performances-permitting. Whoever gets the nod has to go out there and play well or risk being dropped, and possibly be out of the equation for some time. It's what competition for places is all about and it's something Mourinho has been striving for this season with his desire for at least two players for every position on the field.

Lest we forget, while Madrid can go into Sunday's game in much better spirits than they would have a few weeks ago, Barca will still be favourites thanks to their superb start to the season and the fact they're playing on home soil. Lionel Messi may be having a lean spell in front of goal by his standards (no goals in his last three games), but the fact the Blaugrana are still scoring goals can be seen as a positive for them. The return of David Villa, too, will add another problem for Madrid that they haven't encountered this year due to the Spanish striker's injury. Last week's game in Sevilla probably summed up the preview for the Clasico nicely. Madrid can take positives from Sevilla being on the verge of defeating Barca, but Vilanova and his men can also take plenty from the spirit they showed to score twice late on and win.

It's all set-up for another real humdinger of a match (when is it not?) and it's all set-up to be a crucial contest in this season's title race.

As with all Clasico matches there are plenty of mini-battles being played within, both off the pitch and on them. Here are just four that are really worth a mention.

- The Messi v Ronaldo debate. Let's be honest, it gets boring sometimes doesn't it? They're different players but it's understandable that they're comparable given the amount of goals they score at two of arguably the biggest clubs in the world. Both are in contrasting form going into the game. Messi hasn't scored in his last three, while Ronaldo has scored hat-tricks in his last two matches and seven in his last three. They say form goes out the window in these matches, however. Madrid's talisman has at least shaken off that tag of not being able to perform in the big matches - he's scored in Madrid's last four visits to the Camp Nou.

- Vilanova v Mourinho. While the managers went head-to-head for the first time in the two-legged Super Copa, which saw Mourinho and Madrid come out on top on away goals, the pair have yet to meet in the more intense environment of a La Liga encounter. Mourinho's eye-gouging incident will always be remembered when Vilanova was Pep Guardiola's assistant. We'll watch on with interest to see if this managerial rivalry lives up to the last one.

- Sergio Busquets v Pepe. The Clasico matches always have quality to spare. Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta and Kaka are always going to bring some individual class and brilliance to the table, but what about the other end of the spectrum? There's the unfortunate side of play-acting, and some pretty bad challenges to boot, too. Busquets and Pepe are the most common offenders - will they both remain on the pitch or will one, or both, get an early bath?

- Victor Valdes v Iker Casillas. The pair of goalkeepers have experience in Clasico matches in abundance but a watchful eye will be cast on both on Sunday night. Valdes has had his fair share of mistakes in recent matches between the sides, while Casillas and his Madrid defence has struggled so far this season, especially when defending set-pieces. Both are set to be heavily involved but who will come out on top?

It's going to be a big weekend. Follow me on Twitter @nicholasrigg for all the Clasico talk and reaction.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email