Barcelona and Real Madrid risk early Champions League exit

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  • When the balls are unscrewed, and the names of either Real Madrid or Barcelona are unfurled by a legend flashing a toothy grin, it almost makes watching the Champions League draw a worthwhile exercise.

    Fawning videos and tedious explanations finally give way to something magical – that moment of wondrous speculation as fate in the form of Xabi Alonso decides where the most famous teams on earth are heading in February.

    A pessimistic Chelsea fan will have felt a pang of emotion when Alonso, a man known for his link-up play, paired them with Barcelona. And though Paris Saint-Germain’s rise may not be a tale for the romantics, on strictly footballing terms at least, there is a lot to love about Real’s impending visit to the French capital.

    Spanish football’s greatest exports never fail to stir the emotions. Yet the one emotion that need not creep into their European opponents this year is fear. These clubs are still Real Madrid and Barcelona, just not as we know them.

    The last time that neither Real nor Barca qualified from the last 16 is not even that long ago – in 2007 – but one or both have been at the pinnacle for so long that a younger generation of football fan will never have known it any other way. This could be the season that the perception shatters.

    Ernesto Valverde has sewed together the ragged remnants of Luis Enrique’s reign and his functional fingerprints are all over this current Barca side. Outside of the magic of one Lionel Messi there is no space for the flourishes that for so long have encapsulated the Blaugrana brand.

    Without Neymar, there is little pace, which made up for some of the attacking deficiencies since the departure of other important components. Without a marauding Dani Alves, there is a lack of attacking overload. A superb Ivan Rakitic is the metronome, but not the generational Xavi. Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is one of their most important players – Victor Valdes, back in their halcyon days, rarely needed to be more than an afterthought.

    That’s not to say Barcelona aren’t very good. Sometimes they are still great, but Valverde has ultimately brought order – albeit to a team that desperately needed it – without recapturing the awe.

    Of course, Pep Guardiola has long left Camp Nou, but even last year there was something palpably frightening among Barcelona’s dysfunction as that beautiful chaos conjured one of the most breathtaking comebacks of all time against PSG.

    Chelsea, should they strip away the history and the emotion, will come to learn what current day Barca represents – an opportunity.

    Provided they shackle you-know-who, Barca may not have the outlets to get behind Chelsea’s wing-backs and the time on the ball with N’Golo Kante as chief heel-nipper.

    As for Real, their drop-off can this year can in some way be explained by their merry-go-round of suspensions and injuries, with Gareth Bale as ever operating those particular controls.

    This team could also benefit from a sprinkle of Valverde pragmatism. The weekend’s battering of Sevilla aside, they have been disjointed in attack and the ineffectiveness of Karim Benzema as a spearhead is reaching boiling point.

    Casemiro, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal – not to mention Cristiano Ronaldo’s fit of pique in the Spanish Super Cup – have been indicative of a lack of discipline and sloppiness which allowed Tottenham to qualify from their Champions League group as winners.

    Neymar is heading back to Spain

    Neymar is heading back to Spain

    PSG are hardly the most ordered of outfits themselves but having scored a record 25 goals in topping their own group, that triumvirate of Edinson Cavani, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe will make Real think twice and thrice again.

    Unai Emery may be struggling to juggle his players’ egos, and capitulation at knockout time has become an unwelcome habit, but Real – even though they are aiming for a three-peat – have shown they are at least living on the same mortal plane this season.

    And that is well the point. There will be no quarter-final given lightly to La Liga’s juggernauts. For once, both of them are in the leading pack rather than the runaway favourites.

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