6 Reasons Jose Mourinho May Defeat Pep Guardiola in the Champions League

El Clasico: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona.

Some call it the biggest football derby in the world, while others believe it to be a bit overrated.

Whatever your take on it though, there's no denying that these two Spanish giants are two of the best teams in the world, and that this year neither team is likely to be knocked out of the Champions League before facing off against their eternal rivals.

There are many reasons why Pep Guardiola and Barcelona would win a match against Real Madrid, obviously. Jose Mourinho possess a fairly poor head-to-head record with Barcelona as Real Madrid's manager, and has failed to win against the Catalans in five attempts this season.

But to say that Real Madrid has no chance of victory against Barcelona would be ridiculous, especially considering Barcelona's league struggles this season.

With that in mind, here are six factors in Real Madrid's advantage that could push Real Madrid over the hump in a potential Real Madrid/Barcelona Champions League matchup.

Madrid's La Liga Dominance & Barca's La Liga Failure

Last year's Barcelona were a ruthless outfit. They suffered an early season loss to Hercules, but responded by winning 23 of their next 25 games to effectively seal up their La Liga title challenge.

This season's Barcelona has been considerably more shaky. Barcelona have had a tougher time breaking down defenses this season, as six draws illustrates, and have even been figured out by a couple teams this season, namely Osasuna and Getafe.

This fragility has opened the door for Real Madrid to reclaim the La Liga title for the first time since 2007-08, and they've done so in clinical fashion.

As of February 26th, 2012, Real Madrid has won 19 of its last 20 La Liga games, and holds a 10-point lead over Barcelona in the table.

One of the biggest criticisms of Mourinho's reign at Real Madrid till now has been his failure to win legitimate silverware besides the Copa del Rey.

With the La Liga trophy seemingly headed to Real Madrid's trophy cabinet this season, could this be the turning point of Mourinho's Madrid career, and the first crack in Barcelona's guise of perfection?

Barcelona's Defensive Fragility

Barcelona conceded only 21 goals in last year's La Liga, but this season they've already conceded 18 goals. That figure is better than Real Madrid's and indeed better than most clubs in the world, but it does indicate that Barcelona's defense isn't quite as good as it was last season.

There are a number of reasons for this. First and foremost, Pep Guardiola continues to tinker with the idea of of fielding a goalkeeper and 10 midfielders.

Eric Abidal and Dani Alves often push up and act as left and right wingers, while Javier Mascherano is often selected due to him being a defensive midfielder by nature.

While this strategy has paid off for Barcelona on occasion, notably against Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey, it has resulted in Barcelona being less defensively resolute at the back. Curiously, Gerard Pique has been dropped on multiple occasions, and this too has hurt Barca's defensive fortitude.

With Barcelona's defense weakened this season and often in flux, Real Madrid stand a better chance of scoring against Barcelona in the Champions League this season than they did last season.

Mesut Ozil'S Progress on the Big Stage

In the second leg of Real Madrid's matchup with Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey, Ozil played arguably his best Clasico as a Real Madrid player. Though his only statistical contribution was an assist on Cristiano Ronaldo's opening goal, he was arguably Madrid's best player on the night.

Throughout the game, he controlled the midfield, and with a little more luck probably could have helped Real Madrid secure passage to the next round at the Camp Nou.

He created scoring chance after scoring chance for his teammates, and even had one excellent shot hit the bar and just barely avoid crossing the goal-line.

If Ozil continues to improve his performance level in El Clasico, he may just be enough to help Real Madrid get a crucial victory or two over their eternal rivals.

Karim Benzema's Consistency Against Barca

Karim Benzema may just be Real Madrid's most consistent player against Barcelona.

This season, in five Clasicos, Benzema has scored three goals and assisted three others. Higuain, on the other hand, has scored zero goals and assisted zero others in those give games.

Last year, Higuain was poor against Barcelona in the Champions League, and was a big reason why Real Madrid couldn't make their possessions count whenever they were playing well.

With Benzema in good form against Barca offense, and Mourinho knowing which striker performs better against Barcelona now, Real Madrid should be able to count on Benzema to at least bag one goal against Barcelona over two legs, and to pose a constant threat to Barca's defense in both of their matchups.

Real Madrid's Improved Defense

This season, Real Madrid have conceded only 21 goals in La Liga, a good amount for a team that normally concedes a high number of goals and focuses more on scoring a lot than on tight defending. They're currently on track to beat their La Liga total of 33 last season, and 35 the year before.

What's the secret? Sergio Ramos. The Real Madrid talisman has played more as a center back than as a right back this season, and the results have been great.

Real Madrid are much more secure with Ramos in the middle than they were last season with Ricardo Carvalho, and Ramos' pairing with Pepe in the center has resulted in much fewer errors made in the center of defense.

The Ramos/Pepe pairing is by no means perfect, but it is improving, and with time they should continue to develop a better understanding with each other.

Real Madrid's biggest weakness against Barcelona in recent games has been conceding goals against the run of play, and when/if Ramos and Pepe gear up to face Barcelona in the Champions League this season, they should make fewer mistakes than they've made in previous games.

Jose Mourinho Is Wiser

It's been a quiet year for Mourinho, hasn't it?

Ever since the bizarre eye-poke incident of the Supercopa, we haven't heard very much from the Special One.

In the build-up to the Copa Del Rey quarterfinals, Mourinho elected to avoid the usual mind games he plays with his biggest rivals, and the media were left with little to report in the form of sound bites from everyone's favorite Portuguese football manager.

The same applied for the La Liga Clasico. Mourinho elected to stay slient and allow his assistant to take questions, and after the loss referred to the match as just three points lost, nothing more and nothing less.

Could it be that Mourinho has grown wiser and learned to focus on managing his team rather than psyching out his opposition, or is he simply tired of eating his words after every Clasico?

Either way, Real Madrid are all the better with Mourinho's new media approach, and should emerge more focused and disciplined if the two sides meet in the Champions League later this year.