Guillem Balague Says Real Madrid Are Too Individualistic

The Spanish journalist believes that Barcelona are favourites because they are a team while Real Madrid relies too much on individual play.

It is the week for El Clasico and at this time of the year, everyone likes to talk about football to express their opinion. People usually talk about form, statistics, recent performances and the star players of the clubs and this is what Guillem Balague was talking about in his recent post.

• Barcelona are a united team
• The Catalans are stronger
• Real Madrid rely too much on individuals

Spanish gambling news report that SkySports pundit Balague believes for does not matter when it comes to El Clasico. It is all decided during those 90 minutes. The football expert firmly believes that Real Madrid are not ready to play as a unit against FC Barcelona and claims that if the Royal Team happen to win, that will be because of individual skills and flashes.

Real Madrid’s attackers are suffering lately

SkySports employee also states that Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo has lost efficiency. It is hard to argue with that statement as even Carlo Ancelotti, manager of the Royal Team, has said that Real Madrid attackers have been in declining form recently. Balague believes that Gareth Bale can be key member due to his 2 goals against Levante at Galacticos’ latest La Liga clash which they won 2-0. The pundit also highlighted that if Ancelotti’s men win, that will be because these 3 pick up their good form again, and not because they suddenly became a united team.

The pundit believes that Real Madrid today is not as good as they used to be when setting up a series of winning 22 games consecutively. Everyone thought they were invincible at that time and now they are regarded as huge underdogs. Balague thinks that Los Blancos are incapable of showing the same performance throughout a whole game as they did in those times when they won all their matches. He also stated what Real Madrid will need to play, “Keeping the ball, mixing it with high pressure, fast counter attacks.” Then he added that he didn’t believe that Real Madrid will be capable of doing that against Barcelona.

The SkySports pundit claims that because he believes that Carlo Ancelotti’s men are not prepared for a clash like this, either physically nor mentally. The journalist then said that Barcelona can win the match if they keep playing as a team until the end. In addition, they can gain a huge advantage in the last 15 minutes because Barcelona are stronger than Real Madrid. Online gambling sites in Spain agree with his opinion as the odds for Barca’s success are 1.67 (4/6) by Bet365.

Barcelona might be facing problems as well

The successful reporter pointed out the fact that Luis Enrique’s men are struggling to defend against counter attacks. In addition, the Spaniard says that Real Madrid can take advantage of the way the Catalan side protects themselves against their rival’s strikers. “The style they defend with quick transitions could be beneficial to Real Madrid if they recover the ball early and manage to disrupt the way Barcelona build and use the space the lack of control from Barca sometimes produces.” However, he also highlighted that keeping the ball will be crucial element in the Blaugrana’s play which will be quite unbearable for the Royal Club.

In addition, Barca played a midweek game against English Premier League title defender Manchester City, which can also be an important factor for the outcome of the clash. FC Barcelona had to concentrate fully on the game on Wednesday because nothing was decided on the first leg, moreover, they did not even have to chance to rotate some of the key players. They went with their best team and achieved a victory of 1-0.

Meanwhile the pundit says Ancelotti muse have his concerns over his team’s performance against Levante even though they won by 2-0. Balague claims that even though Real Madrid did what they had to do in the first half, but they played completely enervated and weak in the second part of the game. He also mentions that Real’s midfield will not be fit enough for El Clasico as Toni Kroos has been playing almost every game of Galacticos so far. Furthermore, Isco was also used often lately, while Luka Modric just returned after months of injury. All these information seem to be enough for mobile betting sites to regard Los Blancos as underdogs.