Vini, Rodrygo, Lewandowski make El-Clásico a must watch
It has been almost three years since a Clásico began with Barcelona and Real Madrid first and second in La Liga, but that’s not all that feels different this time.
After a spell in the doldrums, devoid of the stellar names that for a time made this historic fixture unmissable, the Clásico again has a headline act to savour. At the Santiago Bernabéu today will be Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona’s most celebrated summer signing, up against Karim Benzema, Real’s surely soon-to-be winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or.
They might not be Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but who is? By any reasonable measure, El Clásico has some of its glamour back.
And yet beneath a personal duel of two of Europe’s deadliest strikers comes something perhaps even more exciting: a fresh wave of youth, some of them on the cusp of the elite, others already there, now spearheading two of the world’s most prestigious clubs.
Barcelona spent nearly €150 million (£130 million) on players this summer and while the wisdom of trading long-term revenue for short-term cash is rightly questioned, on the pitch there are signs of life. Pedri, 19, and Gavi, 18, look like Barcelona midfielders for a decade.
The 23-year-old Jules Koundé, signed from Sevilla, is a colossus at the back. Ansu Fati, 19, is one of the world’s most lethal forwards when fit. Ousmane Dembélé is reinvigorated and Frenkie de Jong still a mesmerising talent.
Even if Barcelona fail to get out of a difficult Champions League group, in Spain they sit top of the pile, unbeaten with the best record in attack and the meanest record in defence.
They have scored three goals or more in five of their eight opening league games this term and lead Real on goal difference.
And yet as the future beckons, it seems Barcelona cannot help but look back. Last week, Eduard Romeu, the vice-president, said the “doors are open” to Messi making a return next summer when his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires.
Asked whether they could find a way to afford the Argentinian, who turns 36 in June, Romeu said Barça “knows how to perform miracles”.
Few would begrudge Messi the ending he should have had at the Nou Camp and the send-off his career deserves.
His departure for PSG was the most damning indictment possible of Barcelona’s prolonged failure of leadership and still stands as a powerful riposte to those who insist their financial mistakes went unpunished.
But by next summer, Barça will be two years into the gargantuan task of moving on from Messi. Is that the time to be turning back?
Tactically, it is not obvious where Messi would fit in under Xavi Hernández, who is trying to mould Barcelona into a more dynamic, pressing team. In Messi’s favoured position on the right, Barcelona have invested in speed and youth, with Dembélé, Fati, Raphinha and Ferran Torres all fighting for places. Down the middle, Lewandowski is surely immovable and in midfield, where it has long-been suggested Messi could see out his career, Barça already have the artistry of Pedri.
Huge financial compromises would have to be made too. Messi earns more than £30 million a year in Paris and Barcelona need to reduce, not add to, their wage bill, which has risen to more than €656 million this season.
A significant chunk of that is spent on three of their oldest players — Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué and Jordi Alba — all of whom have struggled in recent weeks. Piqué and Busquets were at fault for goals against Inter Milan on Wednesday, a 3-3 draw all-but sealing an early exit from the Champions League — which is set to cost Barça about €20 million.
The club’s president, Joan Laporta, maintains the European Super League, a project driven by Real Madrid, is still “the solution football needs”.
When Lewandowski was unveiled in front of almost 60,000 Barcelona supporters on August 5, the choice of date was no coincidence. Exactly one year before, the club had announced Messi’s departure, citing “financial and structural obstacles” to the renewal of his contract.
Twelve months on, Lewandowski’s arrival represented a fresh start, a new star for a new era. For all the emotional pull, Messi’s return would risk reversing all of that, his comeback halting a tactical, financial and psychological recovery just as it was getting started.
After Ronaldo left for Juventus in 2018, Real needed time to heal; three coaches were appointed the following season, none of them able to steady the ship. But just as Barcelona have bid farewell to the likes of Andrés Iniesta, Luis Suárez and, after a second stint, Dani Alves, Real have undergone a renovation of their own. After Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos went to PSG while Manchester United took Casemiro and Raphaël Varane, before Marcelo departed for Olympiacos.
The result is a youthful squad that is maturing nicely under Carlo Ancelotti. The majestic Luka Modric and brilliant Karim Benzema endure but the real thrust of this team increasingly now comes from Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, their two electric Brazil forwards, not to mention Fede Valverde, the lung-busting Uruguay star in midfield. Aurélien Tchouaméni has filled the void left by Casemiro and Eduardo Camavinga’s emergence means the 32-year-old Toni Kroos is no longer a guarantee.
Like Real Madrid, Barcelona have a new generation ready to lead them into the next cycle, players that should define the Clásico for years to come, providing the club will let them. It is not a European Super League they need, nor perhaps even the return of Messi, but faith.
