El Clasico 2013: Keys to Stopping Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo

Matches like El Clasico are a tactician's dream. It's almost as much fun trying to figure out how the managers will handle the opposing club's biggest stars as the match itself is.

Three of the biggest stars in this season's first Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona are Neymar, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

For Messi and Ronaldo, this is old hat. They've been there, done that.

However, Neymar will be appearing in his first match between the two clubs. He's lived up to the hype so far since his move to Barcelona, but a poor performance in the Clasico will only serve to fuel his critics.

Just how Gerardo Martino and Carlo Ancelotti will approach this match is still a bit unknown. This is the first Clasico for the managers, as well, so they've yet to fully comprehend the atmosphere when the teams set foot on the pitch.

This match has some added significance after Barcelona's 0-0 draw with Osasuna last week. That put Madrid just three points back of Barca, so a win would see them go level on points. On the other hand, getting a six-point lead on Real Madrid this early into the season would be huge for Barcelona.

In order for Madrid to prevail, they'll have to figure out how to limit Messi and Neymar. And for Barca, it's all about slowing down Ronaldo.

Considering the talent of those three players, there's no way you can take them out of the game completely. As a manager, you can only hope to devise a game plan that limits them just enough to give your team the edge.

Here are some ways Ancelotti and Martino could approach negating these massive stars.

Lionel Messi

Surround Him with a Trio of Defenders

You don't want to mark Lionel Messi with just one defender. You're asking for disaster.

There isn't a defender, past or present, who can handle Messi all by himself. Even playing in zonal marking system, it's much smarter to have at least two defenders always hovering around the Argentinian star at all times.

What would probably be best is to have three players trying to corral Messi—a central/defensive midfielder and then two centre-backs. Carlo Ancelotti can have either Sami Khedira or more likely Asier Illarramendi dropping back to shadow Messi, with Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane keeping watch at the back as well.

Especially with the centre-backs, it will be important to sit back a little more and not follow the Barca forward all the way to the touch line. Instead, stay closer to goal and make him run at you. That way there's less chance he gets in behind the defense and has an open run at goal.

Have Defenders Stay on Their Feet

Some might be of the opinion that the best plan of attack is to hammer Messi early and often. He can't be a factor in the game if he is laboring on the pitch with an injury.

The problem with that is that Messi is so elusive that he'll be able to avoid most of the tackles and not just settle for getting free kicks in dangerous areas.

Should a tackle be unsuccessful, that leaves your team a man down in defense. By the time your player can recover, Messi's either bearing down on goal, or he's dropped the ball off to a teammate and made a run into the box, looking for service.

It will be important for the Madrid defenders that they stay on their feet and keep Messi in front of them at all times.

Neymar

Don't Allow Him to Cut Inside Close to Goal

It's pretty simple with Neymar: Don't let him kill you running inside from the left flank. That's when the Brazilian star is at his best.

He can take the ball close to midfield, run 10 or 20 yards and then cut inside, looking to score or set up his teammates. In Barcelona's 0-0 draw with Osasuna, it was Neymar acting as an inverted winger that helped to set up most of the chances.

As fans see with Arjen Robben, though, you can shade an inverted winger as much as you want down the flank, but the best will find the tiniest of windows to get inside and run at goal.

The other problem with Neymar is that, unlike Robben, he is competent when playing the ball to his opposite foot. He can cross it in with his left, if necessary, and find his teammates in the box.

Between having him do that or running in on his right, you'd much rather take the former.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Track Back Quickly and Limit the Size of the Pitch

Especially last season, Spanish teams found that if you sit back and let Real Madrid boss the game in the attacking third, they can actually be less effective. Part of that is down to Cristiano Ronaldo not having a chance for his lung-bursting runs down the left flank.

Since he's such a large part of the Real Madrid attack, taking away that space and his ability to hit back quickly on the counter is a must for Barcelona.

With the combination of Barca's style and Dani Alves at right-back, there could be plenty of opportunities for Ronaldo to get space down the left. They're not going to all of a sudden play defensive football.

With that in mind, what the Catalans can do is recover quickly. As soon as they've lost the ball and failed to get it back in the next few seconds, they need to move fast back down the pitch. That way the defenders can get some organization at the back.

Then Barcelona can squeeze the pitch and force Ronaldo to dump it off to his teammates.

Shift Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique over to Right Side When Defending

Much as with Messi, the best way to handle Ronaldo is having multiple defenders stay in their area and try to shadow the winger the entire game.

Normally, you'd include the right-back, but with Alves' style, you can't exactly trust that he'll always be there to provide resistance for Ronaldo. Even with his prodigious speed and stamina, there will be times when that flank is exposed.

This won't be a revelation for Gerardo Martino.

Although Sergio Busquets has added a different dimension to his game and become a more complete midfielder, he's better off staying back and being that defensive shield for Barcelona that he was last season and many seasons before.

He can stop Ronaldo from making those runs to the inside and ensure that Gerard Pique isn't alone when trying to get the ball off the Madrid winger.

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