Although Real Madrid defeated twice Barcelona during the Spanish Super Cup played in August, the Catalans have been showing more strength during the season. In fact, Valverde's team has remained unbeaten since that tournament, and they even finished as first in their Champions League group.
On the other hand, Real Madrid has already lost twice in La Liga against Betis and Girona, and didn't win facing teams such as Levante or Bilbao. Moreover, they couldn't grab the top of their group in Europe, and now they will face the extraordinary PSG in the next round.
Among the supporters of Real Madrid, has extended the feeling of the possibility of ending the season without glory. Clearly, the gap of eleven points in La Liga seems already too big, considering that Real Madrid has never cleared such a huge distance with the leader.
Nevertheless, the 'Blancos' have achieved the best year in their history, winning five titles, and last weekend they were crowned at the Club World Cup. In that tournament, Modric was awarded the best player, and Gareth Bale rescued the team in the semi-final when he scored the goal of the victory, the same as Cristiano Ronaldo did in the final.
Messi vs Ronaldo
The battle between the two best players in the world will be the focus for most of the supporters.
After Cristiano Ronaldo won La Liga and the Champions League, and consequently The Best and the Ballon d'Or, Messi surely will be more motivated to repeat the performance that he did during his last match played in La Liga at Santiago Bernabeu.
On that occasion, the Argentinian scored twice and was the best on the pitch, bringing a shocking victory in the last minute against their rivals.
But Cristiano Ronaldo also knows the feeling of being decisive against Barcelona. He scored an impressive goal at Camp Nou in August, the same place where he scored a late winner in 2016. Furthermore, since he arrived in Spain in 2009, he has scored 17 times in 28 matches.
On the other hand, Messi has scored 24 goals in 36 matches.
Therefore, the two kings of football during the last ten years will face off in possibly the biggest match of Europe.
The supporting actors
Apart from them, there are some players that have been doing some fundamentally good performances in the last year. For example, Suarez is always giving a hard time to Varane and Sergio Ramos, who scored in the last minute during the last season.
Furthermore, Modric, Kross, and Isco have consolidated as a really strong midfield, and they are capable of dominating any kind of match.
On the contrary, Barcelona has lost quality in that zone since Xavi left Barcelona and Iniesta has had less continuity than in past years. In spite of this, now the Catalans are more robust than ever, with players such as Paulinho, Rakitic or André Gomes showing a great level of team-work.
Thus, a victory for Barcelona would sentence La Liga, but if Real Madrid gets the victory, nobody will write off Zidane's team. Especially, because the spirit and stubbornness of 'los Blancos' to reach the hardest of tasks is an essential part of their history.
