Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Now that we have booked our ticket to the CL semi-final it's time to turn to LL with El Clasico coming at the worst possible time for Barca. Neymar is suspended, Arda is injured and Susrez is in bad form.

On the other hand Ronaldo is getting back to his best, and we have a healthy squad bar the Ramos partner so ZZ has plenty of players to choose from

Bale is back in training which means barring a relapse he'll most possibly start against Barca. Normally I would've Isco disco but without Neymar's speed to worry about Bale and Carvajal can run Alba ragged together

This is the most hopeful I've felt in a long time. Bernabeu is going to be rocking. I'd take a 2-1 with Pique scoring an own goal

If we win here we are unofficially the champions of the league. We'd be 6 points ahead with a game in hand. Barca have nothing to lose. They'll throw the kitchen sink at us. With Messi drawn to the center Casemiro will have his work cut out for him

Probable line up:

Mehssi is of no concern to me. We need to shutdown Suarez and shutdown their midfield.

Half the reason why Barcelona struggled against psg was because of mehssi hilariously enough. Though with no nerman, they may play differently...

Regardless, I expect us to give them a thorough beating. To have any less confidence is to not have have faith in this team and in our coach. Zidane only missed out of la Liga last year because he came too late. Now is the time to seize control of the league once and for all.

Go figure I feel confident going into 2 Clasico's in one season. Never happened before really. Tactic wise is a given, we all know what both teams does and does not do so it's just a matter of who takes their chances.

Again, we have a superior midfield than them, better full backs than them and more solid CB partnership than them. A victory is actually very much within the team's grasps.

I have a bad feeling about this game to be honest. We have a lot going for us, and have lucked out on some of Barca's problems, but I can't help but get the feeling Barca will use this game to bounce back and make the rest of the season interesting.

On the other hand if we win this match the league is wrapped up imo.

According to Marca, Bale will start on the bench and Isco will take his place in the line up. Well Bale coming on against tired defence will be massive.

great. bale has been shit since november. i'd also like to see morata instead of benzema.

Messis going to surprise us. He was good vs Juve imo.

I know we haven't won the league in quite some time now, and it would be a massive disappointment to lose out on the title this year, especially against the worst Barcelona side in recent years. But if I had to choose between making history by winning two CLs back to back or winning the league, I would go for the former without even blinking.

My point is, I hope the team isn't content with just winning the league this year. I hope they're targeting the CL as well. Like I said, winning the league is a massive achievement, but being the first team to win the CL two years in a row is a godlike feat. I would make it my top priority if I were Z.

There's no priority between La Liga and CL... if you are in a position to win both, you play both 100% and that's how it's going to be.

If we win today, the difference is that you can afford to drop 5 points in the remaining 6 La Liga games, assuming Barca win out, to take the title. So if the players need a break before a CL semi leg, ZZ has the luxury to do it. This doesn't even take into account the game in hand.

Heck, if we draw this game, we can't lose a game... we can draw one, but not lose until we secure points in our game in hand.

A matter what you can and can't afford to do at particular moments.

Bale better pay back the faith ZZ has shown him. There's no Neymar to worry about so taking on Alba is the LEAST I'll expect from him

Alba can keep up with Bale, he has done it before. Also, yeah, Zidane is definitely placing a lot of (blind) faith in Bale today since I'm sure the Bernabeu wanted to see Isco start.

Making the BBC untouchable is one of the bad things Z learned from Carlo, I guess.

I hope Z knows what he's doing here. But just in case he doesn't, I hope he won't stay until the 80th min to make his subs.

Casemiro getting torn apart
Zidane starts bale and it back fires

HT 1-1 this game has been too chaotic. Oh dear. 99% of Madrid knew Bale was injured apart from himself. What an idiot, we have now wasted a sub on him. This frontline needs to go, I hate it. They are all waiting for a long ball instead of coming down and helping out with possession. Messi looks up for it, Casemiro has to be careful here

Well, Zidane blind faith in Bale didn't work out. Had no business starting but whatever.

Decent half from either side though, as per usual, whenever we take the lead, we switch off for God knows what reason. And I can't fault anyone about Messi, he is definitely playing great. Only real talking point is Casemiro dodging a 2nd yellow because the ref felt benevolent.

Pretty sure he'll either get sent off eventually or sub off for Isco.

Need to take casemiro off. Next card is a red no matter what the foul is.

Considering Zidane started a clearly unfit (seriously, he literally looked unfit), I wonder how long it would take till he subs Casemiro?!

Well guys

We've done it

halamadrid2 wrote:HT 1-1 this game has been too chaotic. Oh dear. 99% of Madrid knew Bale was injured apart from himself. What an idiot, we have now wasted a sub on him. This frontline needs to go, I hate it. They are all waiting for a long ball instead of coming down and helping out with possession. Messi looks up for it, Casemiro has to be careful here

Told my colleague before the game, that Bale would end up getting injured in this match. We both had a laugh when he sat on the ground, clinching his ankle

So disheartening this loss I was happy with 2-2

Also this game also showed it was no super human effort by Neuer, our players just have shite finishing

i think we should sell bale tbh...

Ramos, as captain, let his team down.

No need to make that challenge

Zidane let his team down. He should have started isco or asensio instead of bale.

His subs where terrible. Benzema was having a awful game and lasted almost 90 minutes.

Why didnt Morata com on. We needed someone with speed to test pique and umtiti. Benzema and Ronaldo have zero link up play between them

Ramos, Bale and Casemiro were awful. Ronaldo too. what a shat game.

we were tired af btw

A shame what has transpired. We can only move on. I guess the Bayern game took too much from us.

Well, that was emotional. Gonna wait till my feelings calm down a bit before I start criticizing or praising.