A Clásico of contrasts: Bernabéu chaos vs. Barça control

The contrast between the two Spanish giants heading into the final Clásico of the season could not be greater.

One appears to be financially stable with a state-of-the-art stadium; the other is triggering the equivalent of footballing pay-day loans to bankroll the rebuild of their historic home.

One was able to invest almost 170 million euros in the summer transfer market; the other cobbled together 25 million euros to buy a new goalkeeper.

One club has a petition of 12 million signatures concerned that their star player isn’t giving his all, following pictures of him living it up on an Italian yacht. The rivals were happy to trust their players to have a few days off away from the glare of the media.

Crucially, one club is eleven points behind the other with 12 points to play for.

Real Madrid may be more impressive fiscally but FC Barcelona are excelling at football.

In Madrid, it is chaos. The manager’s position is “situation vacant”. The interim boss is having to deal with squabbles on the training ground and his club captain Dani Carvajal pulling faces when his replacement Trent Alexander-Arnold makes an error. This was compounded by the petition citing Kylian Mbappé’s behaviour.

The headline act was headline news when images of him loafing around on a boat in Sardinia when fans assumed he was recuperating from injury. This was compounded by the story of him landing in Madrid by private jet just 18 minutes before kick-off when he reported for matchday.

It’s not a good look and, understandably, fans are questioning his desire to be fit to face Barcelona.

Those who are in full training appear to be too fired up! Aurélien Tchouaménii and Fede Valverde are reported to have squared up to each other in training; now, footage has emerged of Antonio Rüdiger slapping Álvaro Carreras.

Discipline appears to have gone out of the window. Cast your mind back to the initial Clásico of the season when Vinicius Júnior created a storm with his reaction to getting substituted by Xabi Alonso.

Alonso paid the price for player power. At least he had some control over the locker room. His successor Álvaro Arbeola has all the control of a substitute teacher in the last week of term.

Over in Catalonia, life couldn’t be more different. The Barça players were told they could head to the beaches with the blessing of Hansi Flick. The coach has signed a two-year extension to his contract and he’s maintained total discipline over his superstars.

Jules Koundé and Marcus Rashford have been dropped for turning up late. There is less inclination to test the patience of the manager when he can make an example of established internationals. Any other misdemeanours have been kept in-house.

Real Madrid has a bunch of talented individuals; Barcelona has a total team ethic which has resulted in the dominance of the division.

From what I’ve written above, Barcelona should breeze it… But not necessarily so. Real Madrid can pull together; the players are capable of doing the double over the champions-elect.

The worry for Madridstas is Barça will score early and the Madrid players’ hearts will sink to the size of peas, and they will go into hiding. But there’s nowhere to hide in El Clásico.