It makes sense to start Kovacic but we have no backup DM then? Atleast thats how I thought

Also I have a bad feeling. Barca don't want to humiliate themselves after losing Neymar and Messi is a monster

Put Ceballos in, let's see if he can be Modric's replacement. Modric is severaly missed today

Varane and Ramos were imperial btw. We got burned wide... but the middle held like a rock.

Denis Suarez schooled Carvajal... still not the biggest fan

Yeah, Varane and Ramos do need some mentioning- they were immense today and we would have definitely lost without them

Suarez is looking old too lol.

Messi... damn it...  looked terrifyingly good lol. I didn't know he had that kind of power in his long distance shots. Freakin cannon. Forget the fact that he dribbles everyone for fun.

Varane was absolutely amazing today. Same with Ramos. He played freaking solid all night. He didn't have to make idiotic rushes because Casemiro and mainly Kovacic marked Messi so tightly.

If Carvajal wasn't awful today they would've had their first CS against Barca in like 6 years

Thought Kovacic did well given the circumstances. Kroos was off also.

Does anyone here also think that we intentionally chose that kit to confuse them? there is no logical reason any team will intentionally use a kit similar to their opponent's.
Such slick-passing as is Barca's style must depend on positional awareness and visual recognition.
If it was intentional, we need to pull off the same strategy every time we play them

And please can we accept that 90 million pounds bid from Man U, Bale is never going to fit into this 4-4-2..
I wonder how good we could be if we put two traffic cones on the field instead of Bale and Benzema.
Its high time Asensio started and he came in 60th minute

I was talking about that with my friend, we are of the opinion it was very deliberate but at the same time, legit. That is our away kit so it was spot on according to the rules. Go figure our kit can have a bit of a colour clash with Barcelona's. Not too obvious but for a team that really needs to be spot on with its passing, can confuse if not paying attention.

We would never know the truth but why would we risk confusing ourselves if there wasnt more to gain?
I say, we dye our home kit the same color as barca's kit on wednesday.

I wonder how we will start tonight. As lopsided as the scoreline is, I am not 100% the tie is over. Clasicos have been so unpredictable as of late and Barca can still hurt us.

It would probably be good to start with a 4-5-1 type formation with Lucas and maybe Asensio on the wings to provide additional defensive support.

The longer we can hold out a clean sheet the more hopeless the match will be for Barca- and remember we had phenomenal defensive performances from Ramos and Varane which may not be the case today, who knows.

Without Ronaldo to bail us out on goals, it's even more important we keep it tight at the back

Official Lineup
Carvajal Ramos Varane Marcelo
Kovacic Kroos Modric
Lucas Benzema Asensio

Zidane is in my head, or maybe I'm the one in his head.
I was thinking of this exact formation.
We need to stay tight at the back and counter them because they would be eager to attack and leave spaces on the wings.

I also Favour Kovacic for Casemiro because I noticed Casemiro doesnt know how to mark Messi and he always gets booked and lucky.

The key is to score first and demoralize them
IF they score, they would gain more momentum and we would lose our balance.
if we score first as early as 20 minutes, i see us scoring up to 4 goals in this match!

We stole Theo and Ceballos from them
Bellerin refused to come
they couldnt persuade Veratti
They lost Neymar
We won La Liga and CL
We won the UEFA Super Cup
They lost the 1st leg to us
Iniesta is out of the 2nd Leg
They signed Paulinho
Now Let's hand them the final death blow and send the club into the muds.
I hope Dortmund Liverpool and Chelsea can hold on to their own too.
Let them feel how we felt when everything was going good for them and we were putting scraps together.

Kind of tough to play no DM. You're asking a whole lot from Varane and Ramos.

Let's hope Carvajal has a better game and Lucas should help him there.

I think ZZ is experimenting a bit since we won't have CR for 5 games. Hope it doesn't backfire lol.

I agree Sports. I think Casemiro was a pretty big contributor in the first leg for that exact reason in helping Varane and Ramos.

I hope it doesn't backfire. It doesn't feel like an experiment to me. If it works, we win by at least 2 goal difference....at least! If it backfires, HalaMadrid....lol!

if I'm Barca, I attack us right down the middle of the pitch. Kovacic was a horrible holding mid at Inter... they tried him there. Really struggled.

Kovacic as DM and Llorente not even called up? Wtf?

Kovacic has been solidified as our 4th midfielder. I am not sure if Casemiro is injured, but it feels like having Kovacic in the middle is more of a tactical change. Llorente would have been more of a like for like change

what a team we have. Even Benz is looking like he's finding his form again.