Picking a Barcelona-Real Madrid XI Based on This Season's Form
Barcelona and Real Madrid have had a role reversal across this season.
Los Blancos started like the proverbial juggernaut and looked for all the world to be taking all before them, whilst Barca struggled to find rhythm.
Post-Christmas, the fortunes of both have gone in the opposite direction.
The Catalans now find themselves enjoying their best form of the season whilst Real look tired and out of form.
Let's take a look at 11 players who would make up a combined squad based on form this season, in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Claudio Bravo
1 of 11
When Victor Valdes left Barcelona last season, there appeared to be a genuine worry that such a wonderful custodian would not get replaced adequately.
At 31, Claudio Bravo might have been seen as a little too old and on the verge of being on the downward slope, yet the Chilean has been magnificent.
Unless Barca have an uncharacteristic wobble between now and the end of the season, then Bravo will be a worthy winner of the Zamora award for the fewest amount of La Liga goals conceded.
Sergio Ramos
2 of 11
In order to fit him into this XI, Sergio Ramos is in the right-back position here, a role he has been well used to over the years, if not recently.
Dani Alves, for all of his effervescence and vigour, has not been as accurate with his passing range, nor as adept defensively, as seasons past.
Ramos' value to Real Madrid can be seen clearly by his recent absence. The qualities that he brings to the side have been sorely missed.
While Ramos is not as relentless a full-back as Alves, the Spaniard is on a different level defensively.
Jordi Alba
3 of 11
Jordi Alba's fitness levels are incredible and often get him or the team out of jail when a mistake has been made.
The sort of player who can still be making a lung-bursting 80-yard dash in the 90th minute of a match, Alba's presence as a supplementary attacker of note is welcomed.
His stature means he can sometimes be dominated in the aerial exchanges, but he is the embodiment of the modern-day wing-back.
Pepe
4 of 11
It's been very easy to criticise Pepe over the years.
A decent player whose disciplinary record always overshadowed his excellence on the pitch, he was an easy target for opposition supporters.
Not anymore.
Indeed, it took until the beginning of March before the Portuguese received his first La Liga yellow card of the season, against Villarreal.
He has let his football do the talking all season, and we can see once again what a consummate central defender he is.
Gerard Pique
5 of 11
In the early stages of this season, Gerard Pique must have wondered if he even had a future at Barcelona.
Woefully out of form and dropped on a few occasions by Luis Enrique, Pique's season was in danger of petering out.
The extended spell on the bench had the desired effect, however.
Pique has got better as the season has progressed, so much so that he has to be one of the first names down on the team sheet at the moment.
Sergio Busquets
6 of 11
Recently called the "snow plough" by team-mate by Xavi Hernandez, per Pete Jenson of the Daily Mail, Sergio Busquets revels in his role at Barca.
While his team-mates grab the headlines week in and week out, Busquets goes quietly about his business and with the minimal of fuss.
Squawka note his passing accuracy this season as only bettered by Xavi and Sergi Roberto, both of whom have played significantly less matches than Busquets.
No more an unsung hero of recent Barca sides, Busquets is finally getting the recognition he deserves.
Toni Kroos
7 of 11
Toni Kroos looked a little bit leggy in Real's game against Athletic Bilbao. And well he might.
Back in February, Bleacher Report's Nick Dorrington detailed that the German was only 251 minutes away from playing the most ever minutes during a season—and remember, this is off the back of a gruelling World Cup.
The German has only not featured in two Copa del Rey matches, and so you would expect his form to tail off a little.
Having said that, his pass completion statistics are incomparable. Squawka note more than 1,500 passes have been successfully executed with 92 percent accuracy. Astonishing.
Isco
8 of 11
Isco has finally had the chance to prove that he was worth the €30 million spend when Real signed the youngster from Malaga.
Without an injury to Luka Modric, it's debatable that Isco would have even got a decent run in the side, but he has profited handsomely from the Croatian's misfortune.
Playing regularly has seen the once-fragile confidence disappear, Isco now displaying all of the characteristics from when he was a deserving Golden Boy winner.
Away against Elche, he received a standing ovation from the home fans when being substituted. It told you everything about his performance, which has been replicated in many games during this campaign.
Cristiano Ronaldo
9 of 11
So Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't scored in 50-plus successive direct free-kicks per Yahoo/Eurosport. So what.
The way in which Ronaldo began this season was frankly astonishing. Perhaps he was always going to enter a period where he would slow down in goalscoring terms.
But he continues to set the bar high at Madrid, and he will not rest until he has become the best goalscorer in the club's history.
His drive and competitive nature is unsurpassed, his record second to none. And yet he is still criticised.
His achievements at club level stand alone and therefore he is deserving of much more than having certain aspects of his game dissected with the sole intention of discrediting him.
Viva Ronaldo!
Lionel Messi
10 of 11
Lionel Messi has shown once again this season why he should be considered as one of the best players to have ever played the game.
So far during this campaign, he has become the all-time record scorer in both La Liga and the Champions League and the record assists holder in the league.
He's also scored 40-plus goals in all competitions for the sixth successive year, something which has never been done in any of the top five European leagues.
Routinely making the impossible seem possible, there really shouldn't be anything left for the Argentine to surprise us with.
Neymar
11 of 11
One of the reasons for Barca's renaissance this season has been the form of Neymar.
Acclimatising to the rigours of European football last season, Neymar did at times look like a little boy lost and a rag doll on the end of some industrial tackling.
This season there have been no such problems, and Neymar has looked threatening whenever he's been in possession of the ball.
With confidence at an all-time high, we've seen the Brazilian much more involved in the big moments in games, and his goals and assists per WhoScored put him in a select bracket.
His partnership with Lionel Messi has flourished during the campaign.
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