Ronaldo-less Madrid VS Messi-less Barca

I'm not going to add any analysis that may influence the decisions when voting. Looking at the Clasicos since Ronaldo joined Real Madrid.. What do you guys think the outcome of the latest match would have been had they both been unavailable through injury?

This is of course a hypothetical situation, but just like to get your opinions.

Line-ups with each player subbed out:

----------Valdes
Alves---Pique---Puyol---Abidal
------Busquets----Xavi
---------Fabregas
Sanchez---Villa----Iniesta


-------------Casillas
Coentrao---Pepe---Ramos--Marcelo
---------Lass-------Xabi
--------------Ozil
Di Maria-----Higuain-----Benzema

I've just used standardised 4-3-3's so in your mind you can work out the formation to your liking... Wanted to stay as true to the starting line-ups that were used on the weekend.


It would make for quite an intriguing match! I can't actually call it!

IMO Ronaldo missing from Real would have less of an impact than Messi missing from Barca. Barca without Messi is pretty close to the Spanish NT, but for all their excellent passing, they might not be clinical enough in front of the goal. Moreover Personally, I rate Özil more dangerous than Fabregas, as he can nicely play the "deadly passes" well on the attackers who probably would have it easier to go past Valdes than the Barca ones vs Casillas.

Barca without Messi will lose half of their Power. we Without Ronaldo will play better.

Mamad wrote:Barca without Messi will lose half of their Power. we Without Ronaldo will play better.

Mamad, I know a lot of people are saying talk like this is kneejerk but I happen to know you have felt this way about ol Cristiano for a while now and I don't mind you airing your grievances in the least.

I'm undecided about Cristiano, I never enjoyed him, his style of play, even though his contributions were excellent. Then from this season so far I was enjoying the less selfish team-player he had become but its as if he threw that away against Barca on the weekend and went back to his old ways. I don't actually want him scoring 50 goals a season, if it is at the overall expense of our attack as unit. As what happened on the weekend proves, If it comes down to a cup final.. and he plays within himself and the opposition manage to isolate him (as Alves and Puyol made him their b!tch yet again), then we're screwed as a unit.

In a situation, like that his perseverance (which any other day is good) becomes detrimental.. because perseverance achieves nothing if you're staring at a concrete wall and you persist with running face first into it.

But anyway thats OT.

Maybe Barca without Messi will suffer more than Madrid without Ronaldo, but saying Madrid will play better without Ronaldo is ridiculous

Ronaldo is a player that can't play well under pressure. it's why he flops against Barca.

Ronaldo is a player that needs his team to play well then he can do something.

He isn't the type of player who you can call team's best player.

just go and rewatch our last 5-6 Clasicos. not only he is bad against barca, he is our worst player against them. worst player!

If we had another player instead of him we could win the clasico. Callejon, Higuain or anyone else.

and his workrate you know is zero. in one side he mess up with our goal chances and in other side he mess up with our Pressing system.

Benzema, Di Maria and Ozil are pressing like a horse, and mr Ronaldo is sitting in front of goal and missing chance after chance.

I love my team and i can't take this anymore.

Overwhelmingly Real Madrid in the polls at the moment...

Billy, did you cast a vote against Barca? very brave if you did.

Anyways I happen to think that my suggested Barca line-up in the OP is not too shabby either, certainly as good any day as the suggested Real Madrid line-up? No?

I haven’t yet but I might as well do it now.
I have no problems admitting it, however I believe it is only due to current form. Had Villa or Pedro been in their last season shape I’d say it would be about equal with

Xavi Busquets Iniesta

Pedro, Villa, Sanchez

continued post: or even Barca slight edge

I voted for Barcelona, because even without Messi, Barcelona's midfield is superior to Madrid's.

Did you see the amount of space Messi had when he received the ball in the clasico? That was because Pep loaded the centre of the pitch with 4 midfielders with Alves and Messi playing as the 5th and 6th.

Madrid had Di Maria, Ronaldo and Benzema very high up the pitch because that was Madrid's game plan. They did not adjust enough to account for Barcelona's possession. Hence, whenever the ball passed Ozil, Barcelona found themselves in very favorable situations with 5 players against 4 Madrid players in the center often.

IMO, Pep was the real winner in the Clasico. Of course, he could draw on the considerable talents in Messi, Iniesta and Xavi. However, his game plan countered Madrid's both in defense and in attack. Mourinho did not have any answers.

Pep and Barcelona's superior midfield is the reason i chose Barcelona.

without messi most probably madrid would be in CL final and win super-cup. and without ronaldo well without ronaldo they had chance to make a draw in last clasico

I think that the better question would be Casillas-less Rea Madrid vs Messi-less barcelona and the question

For me its barca. They have a better all around team than real madrid..

Barcelona are reliant on Messi. 90% of their attacks go through him. Ronaldo is a weapon Madridhas at its disposal, but they are not reliant on him. Real Madrid without Rob
Naldo would beat Barca badly if they were missing Messi.

Lol, just checking in.. the poll results are overwhelmingly one-sided.

Not even exaggerating, Madrid would play better with 10 men than with Ronaldo on the field.

I think its pretty straight forward.. Messi is way better so Barca would be missing more off the bat, plus we would then have the best player on the pitch in Benzema

I'd say Madrid would win that match

The Bigger of the impact would be had on barcelona.

Seeing how madrid is still growing, and is already a force to be reckoned with, in the near future, madrid could very well be infront and win with messi in barca or without messi.

With Messi Barcelona has mental and physical edge over other teams. I don't think Cronaldo has same impact tbh.

ronaldo less madrid.. unlike the other madrid fans i still thing a cr7 less madrid will be poorer than one with cr7.. but messi adds much more and is more integral to the barca team.. without messi i feel we can beat barca in the el clasicos with much more relative ease..