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If there is any football match in Europe that can take the title ‘Clash of Titans’, then it would definitely be the one that involves Real Madrid and Barcelona. Over the years, these matches had served up unbelievable entertainment and intrigues that can put some box office movies to shame!

The latest installment in this unending ‘Saga’ is here again as tomorrow at the Nou Camp, Real Madrid will attempt to put back on track their stuttering title aspiration. And what an unenviable task this might turn out to be for Juande Ramos, a coach that I personally feel is among the top ten in the world.

The sheer amount of talents that will be on display tomorrow cannot be replicated in any other league in Europe! Take the roll call: Xavi (Euro 2008 MVP), Lionel Messi (nothing more to be said), Thiery Henry, Eto o Fils, Seidu Kaita and Daniel Alves are going to line up for Barca. These six guys are as good as any player you can think of and most signifcantly, are better than most. For Real Madrid: Iker Cassilla (arguably the best safe hands in the world), Raul, Sergio Ramos, Fernando Gago, Fabio Cannavaro and Rafael Vander Vart. Surely, these are not ordinary players.

All the guys mentioned above will be on the same pitch tomorrow striving for the ultimate; the latest bragging rights until the second installment that will later come up at the Santiago El Bernabu. The magnitude of media coverage alone for this match is awesome. And it is estimated that 1.1 billion people would be hooked up live to this match. If there is any doubt as to the importance of this contest, what happened to Bernd Schuster, the erstwhile coach of Madrid, should leave no uncertainty.

By merely implying that Real Madrid are incapable of beating Barcelona this weekend, he got the boot. Even though it had been long in coming but the hands of Calderon was tied and all he needed was the opening that Schuster provided by making the unguarded statement. Having got rid of him, they brought in my ‘friend’ Ramos for his re-introduction into La Liga.

The rivalry between the two teams is well documented. There is also the political undertone to this contest.

While Madrid is the capital of Spain and represent the seat of power, Barcelona (that is the city), represent a past and present agitation for autonomy. That is why you hear the term ‘Catalans’. There was even a time that our own Super Eagles played and lost to a ‘nation’ called Catania-Simply Barcelona’s selected players!

While Real Madrid went about their Galacticos policy some years back, Barcelona quietly purchased Ronaldinho, Eto O and Deco. These three helped in ensuring that the now infamous policy failed. The aftermath was the exit of Florentino Perez and the rise to power of Ramon Calderon.

The tide also turned around for Barcelona as they failed to make any impact in the last two seasons as they were eclipsed by their bitter rivals. While the coach Frank Rijkaard lost his job, Barca President, Joan Laporta kept his by the whiskers.

To the present: Real are wobbling while Barca are flying! What is going to happen? Football matches are hard to predict and are not quite straight forward as most people are wont to think. Barca, ’am sure, are still smarting from the 4-1 humiliation in May at the Bernabu and will be more than motivated to get one on their rival.

If there is any weakness in this Barcelona team, I’m yet to notice but the same cannot be said of Real Madrid. They leak goals like amateur sides that one is forced to wonder at times on what they are thinking about!

However, it is still not straight forward like I said earlier. Juande Ramos is a very good organizer and he gets his teams to play a very compact system. Tightness at the back and quick bursts of breaks forward are the hallmarks of his games. If he does this to great effect on Saturday, we might be looking at an upset! He enjoyed good returns against Barca in the past when he coached Sevilla and I’m sticking out my neck that he might just edge it again tomorrow.

Whatever happens, one thing we can be certain of is unbridled entertainment at the highest level. And I can’t wait for it as I’m picturing myself in front of my TV with a pack of Chivita fruit juice by my side, sipping and taking it all in my stride!

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