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Cocky Cristiano Ronaldo to be humbled by the outrageous Messi? Real Madrid v Barcelona 2010.

Angela Asante, April 10 2010,
The Bernabeu is heating up. The 2010 El Clasico is only hours away. Amidst a flurry of media hype and the good old debates of Messi vs Ronaldo, Catalans vs Castellanos, Galacticos vs Barcelona, Good vs Evil has hit the media waves. So we thought we’d throw some stats at you and what you may expect between the two football legends in the making that is Ronaldo and Messi.


The stakes are as high as it can be on Match Day 31 in La Liga where both Real Madrid and Barcelona find themselves sharing top spot in the Spanish Primera Division, with only the smallest goal advantage benefitting Los Blancos.

Real Madrid - 83 Goals Scored vs 26 Suffered
Barcelona - 75 Scored vs 19 Suffered

It is telling of the inequality in the Spanish Liga both these teams enjoy a 40-goal differential over the next highest scoring team in La Liga - David Villa's Valencia. Clearly highlighting the imbalance of power, money and talent in La Liga football clubs.

Also, take note that 51% of Real Madrid’s goals have come from Ronaldo and Higuain.  In Barcelona there is even a bigger dependency on two single players. Messi and Ibrahimovic account for 55% of Barcelona's goals. Fortunately for Real Madrid, the 192cm Barcelona Striker will not be available for El Clasico due to an injury suffered in a pre-game warm-up.
 

Goal Scoring Leaders on El Clasico team sheet.
Higuain: MP 1701 - Goals 24 - Goal every 71.2 mins
Messi: MP 2175 - Goal 26 - Goal every 83.6 mins
Ronaldo: MP 1779 - Goal 18 - Goal every 98.8 mins

Other interesting facts that may burn Cristiano Ronaldo is that in a recent study, the outrageous Lionel Messi has edged him on some interesting statistics. The Argentine has a 54% passing success rate against 48 % by CR9.  Messi also beats Ronaldo in terms of successful dribbles with 72% vs 59%. One statistic Ronaldo can be proud of, over most players in the world, is the speed and power in his free kicks. Ronaldo’s can launch the ball at speeds of up to 119 km/hr where the diminutive Messi can only reach 95 km/hr.

Real Madrid and Barcelona in unstoppable winning form

Both teams are in killer form. Real Madrid have won their last 12 La Liga Matches, whereas Barcelona have won only their last 5. But a more important factoid may be that Real Madrid have won 100% of their La Liga matches at the Bernabeu - 15 to be exact. A perfect record they will be careful to protect. Cristiano Ronaldo has been keen to remind fans that Los Blancos are the boss of the Bernabeu. So, with only 7 matches left in La Liga after El Clasico 2010, both teams understand the importance of these 3 points may be what it takes to win the La Liga title.

Madridistas will have not forgotten the last Barcelona visit to the Bernabeu. It was in similar circumstances as this year. At that time, Madrid had gone on an impressive league record with 17 victories in 18 undefeated matches with Juande Ramos as coach. After that sort of form, Los Blancos collapsed under the genius football Barcelona displayed in that Clasico. Raul & Co were humiliated in front of their home fans 2-6 with Messi and Henri leading the charge. So this time, the successful Pellegrini may try to learn from history and approach this game with a more cautious, defensive and aggressive approach, opting for a counter-attacking tactic with a good midfield transition and a very physical approach.

Leo Messi scores a hat trick - so what’s new?

Messi is a truly outrageous player in the form of his life. He has raised his game to get Barcelona into the Champions League Semi-Final and to top spot in La Liga with his most recent performances: 3 hat-tricks and 2 braces in his last 8 games (one of those hat-tricks was a 4 goal performance against Arsenal) - to put this into perspective Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to score 1 hat trick this season.

The distraction of European Glory

Real Madrid can also look at Barcelona's Champions league participation as a blessing, as this will keep Barcelona with a balancing act of fighting for first and advancing in the champions league. 

Jose Mourinho has been likened to the saviour of Los Blancos or the Great White Hope by the Madridistas as only he stands in Barca's way to a final at El Bernabeu. Such an accomplishment by the Special One might reap him the reward of replacing Pellegrini and give him instant legend status in Madrid - and Mourinho loves adoration. So this might be an extra incentive for Mourinho to find a solution to stop the unstoppable Barcelona and the outrageous Messi.

If this does happen, then the possibility of seeing Arjen  Robben and Schneider - the recent Real Madrid rejects - once again gracing the fields of the Bernabeu in a potential Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich Champions League final, later in May. Somewhat of an embarrassment to Fiorentino Perez who was the architect of the Dutch departures.

Ronaldo looking to score his first goal.

Real Madrid are a lethal attacking side with the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Madrid attack. Higuain is having his best season in Spain, having scored 24 goals to date.  Madrid is the highest scoring club in Spain and will try to regain some respect from the Barcelona defense by adding to their goal tally tonight.

But the history books will tell you another interesting factoid - Ronaldo has never scored against Barcelona. In 4 games (3 champions league matches and 1 La Liga match) CR9 has failed to score in all high-octane matches. Three were in a Manchester United uniform and the latest in November in the Clasico at Barcelona. He also missed a penalty against Valdez in a crucial 2008 Champions League semi-final.

Regardless of these stats, Ronaldo has always been a threat to the Barcelona defense. Most recently we have seen some gritty performances by Puyol to keep Ronaldo off the score sheet. Expect Puyol to be given the task to keep the Portuguese prodigy at bay.

Little Messi overshadowing the greater Ronaldo

In a recent press conference, Cristiano Ronaldo said he was "greater than Messi - at least in height" -  and recognized that Messi is in incredible form.

You could say that Cristiano has been in excellent form himself. He missed 10 La Liga games this season due to injury and red card suspensions but is still in the top 4 goal scorers in the league with 18 goals. Ronaldo is an ego-machine and will be looking to make an impression to the millions of fans and his sponsors of his worth. He’ll be taking every chance to score his first goal on the best defense in La Liga tonight.

Fans may be obsessed with Ronaldo as a football icon, but the humility of the little Argentine and his consistent inter-planetary performances have brought him god-like status in the footballing world. He is loved and worshipped by millions. He is an artist on the footballing field, patiently waiting for the right moment to create wonders. Ronaldo will try to outshine Messi tonight in the biggest football match of the year.

Who will win? Who will Score? Who will shine? Ronaldo or Messi may have the answers to these questions.
 

Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Date: Saturday, 10 Apr 2010
Time: 16:00 ( US/Eastern )
Competition: Spain La Liga
Live/Repeat: Live
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Spain

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