Out of the last 50 Liga matches, Atletico Madrid and Hercules have been the only two squads that have managed to leave Barcelona empty-handed. Shall we consider Copa del Rey and Champions League matches too, it's 66 games and five defeats, three of them at the Camp Nou.
In an attempt to understand what could have gone wrong, it's impossible the role Lionel Messi is expected to play in this game. La Pulga is only two goals away from becoming one of the top 10 Clasico strikers of all time.
Seven goals in the last six Clasico games is the flawless record of the young Argentinean against Madrid. Considering he's already scored a hat-trick at the Camp Nou as well as a double in Madrid, what can Jose Mourinho's Merengues do to defeat FC Barcelona at home?
Barcelona defender Maxwell is the only one that's played in the last four victories of the Blaugranas over Real Madrid. Brazilian international performance in those games was nevertheless rather satisfactory, so it'd be truly unwise to assume such results have something to do with him. Barcelona is not known for giving up easily, and only once in their last fifth defeats they failed to react on time and pose a threat to their rival.
Against Atletico, Sevilla and Rubin Kazan, Barcelona fell for the minimum difference 2-1. Internazionale sealed a sound 3-1 victory in Milan while newly promoted Hercules kept their goal shut at the Camp Nou and claimed the three points thanks to Paraguayan international Nelson Haedo Valdez's overwhelming firepower.
Barcelona's spirit is strong and can sustain enormous amounts of pressure calmly. Pep Guardiola's declarations after the last two La Liga defeats exposed this clearly:
"We're always prepared for a defeat. It's the first of the season but we can take positives from it," said the Barcelona head coach.
"That doesn't mean that because we lost I need to start worrying."
An early goal seems to be the only way to stop Barcelona in La Liga. Two South Americans (Diego Forlan and Nelson Valdez) were the executioners of the opening goal on both occasions and this seems to shine a light forth for Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain, shall the statistics be there not to be broken.
Gerard Pique and Pedro scored the openers the last two times Jose Mourinho faced Barcelona. Angel Di Maria and Daniel Alves' fight on the right wing will be decisive, as both players have great skills for starting attacks and have the ability to send perfectly placed crosses from every place of the field.
We must not forget that a surprisingly high number of the goals scored so far by Jose Mourinho's Galactics came from penalty kicks.
If the visitors dominate the first minutes of El Clasico, they might force Barcelona defenders to give a perfect opportunity for Madrid to open the score. And, finally, there's the surprise factor:
Jose Mourinho should be aware to introduce rotation to his squad when his players run out of ideas as Benzema, Canales and Pedro Leon can have a major impact on the development of the derby.
