On Thursday night as Real Madrid stepped out onto the Santiago Bernabeu against a severely depleted Barcelona side, no one could’ve predicted what followed.
The Catalans provided a real ‘backs against the wall’ performance that certainly wasn’t in keeping with their usual passing style.
However, it was effective in the sense that Los Blancos were unable to get their own game going to any great degree, and the team that only recently had blitzed Liverpool 5-2 in the Champions League succumbed to a smash and grab 1-0 defeat.
Was it pretty from Barcelona? Certainly not. Effective? Absolutely.
What the defeat also brought into sharp focus was just how laboured Real’s midfield have become.
Luka Modric, at 37 years of age, is getting no younger, and whilst there is no substitute for experience, there has to be a time when certain situations are evaluated with no emotion or sentimentality attached.
Against a powerful and dynamic midfield, Modric and his partner-in-crime, Toni Kronos, will surely be found wanting.
According to AS, cited by the Daily Mail, it’s said that Real Madrid are in the hunt for Borussia Dortmund’s England international, Jude Bellingham, albeit they don’t want to splash out a significant amount until the summer of 2024.
It’s also believed that Liverpool would like to add Bellingham to their roster and there’s a reasonable argument for both sides to want to secure the player.
Whilst a move back home to England could suit, if Madrid really want a player, there’s a general feeling that the Spanish giants get what they want.
After seeing how easily Barcelona kept walking through their midfield on Thursday, handing the Catalans the advantage in their two-legged Copa del Rey semi-final, Los Blancos president, Florentino Perez, may have to bite the bullet this summer and go all out for Bellingham.
Should he do just that, then Jurgen Klopp surely has a battle royale on his hands to convince the youngster that his immediate future lies in the Premier League.