La Liga Betting: El Classico should be motivation enough for Barca

European Leagues / Dan Fitch / 07 May 2008 / Leave a Comment

In the week when the league title was confirmed as Real Madrid's for the 31st time, their Catalan rivals must travel to the Bernabeu with their tails between their legs. If that wasn't bad enough, Dan Fitch explains the 'pastillo'.

My parents have recently bought a Yorkshire Terrier puppy and are in the process of toilet training the little tyke. This is a tough job for an elderly couple, who are rapidly reaching an age where their own ability to go to the toilet in the right place will be brought into question.

The dog is starting to get the hang of things, but I can't help but think that it might have got the message sooner, had my parents taken a stricter line with the pampered canine. To say that the dog is spoilt is an understatement. He sees more quality cuts of meat than Gordon Ramsay.

In my view, the dog should have been toilet trained the old fashioned way. By that I mean rubbing its little nose into its own mess. The notion behind this draconian lesson was that the dog would be so humiliated by it's actions that it would never cock it's leg at a nest of tables again.

Tonight sees the footballing equivalent of the super sensitive snout of a hound being shoved into it's own steaming pile. A shamefaced Barcelona will travel to the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid will be celebrating their latest La Liga title win. As if this wasn't bad enough, Spanish tradition dictates that Barcelona must form a 'pasillo', which means they will line up either side of the tunnel and applaud Real Madrid's players as they run onto the pitch. Ouch.

If this doesn't humiliate Barca's players into bucking up their ideas for next season, then nothing will. Barcelona will exert more physical effort with their applause for Real than they have in many La Liga fixtures this season. That they've finished so far behind a Madrid side that have limped to the title is a demonstration of how Barcelona have fallen apart. Word has it that Josep Guardiola will take over from Frank Rijkaard at the season's end and it promises to be a busy summer of rebuilding at the Nou Camp.

The guard of honour that Barcelona will form looked to be an unlikely sight at the weekend, when Real found themselves 1-0 down to Osasuna and with only ten men following the sending off of Fabio Cannavaro. But two goals in quick succession from Robben and Higuain gave Real the win they needed and, in turn, their 31st league title.

Last season's title win was an unlikely one, in which Madrid caught up and then overtook a Barcelona side, with a series of wins in which they were often forced to come back from a goal down. The fact that Madrid were scraping wins every week, made them seem rather hollow champions. Despite the title he delivered, the pragmatism of Fabio Capello was dispensed with in favour of Bernd Schuster.

Schuster was a great entertainer in his playing days and was hired to bring a more cavalier approach to Real. In that sense he has largely failed, as Madrid have failed to play with much more flair than they did under Capello. A title in his first season is an achievement, but with little progress shown in the Champions League and a terrible run of form post-Christmas, Schuster is perhaps lucky that the disarray of his title rivals has allowed him to keep his job. Much more will be expected next season.

Real will be without the suspended Cannavaro, whilst Barcelona will miss Eto'o and Deco, who picked up bookings at the weekend against Valencia, possibly to avoid having to applaud their deadliest rivals. Barcelona thrashed Valencia 6-0 and looked quite brilliant at times, but it's one thing to produce when it doesn't matter and another to do it when it counts.

Real Madrid are [2.4] with Barcelona [3.3] and the draw [3.45]. Barcelona would love to spoil the party, but tend to lack a cutting edge without Eto'o. I think the draw is the likeliest result, with the [2.18] for under 2.5 goals also appealing.