With Barcelona's Squad Depleted, Real Madrid Have a Chance They Must Seize
It lasted only 47 seconds, an appearance that almost on its own defines the predicament in which Barcelona find themselves.
In the 62nd minute of Wednesday's clash with Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, Rafinha replaced Ivan Rakitic in midfield. By the 63rd minute, he was lying in a heap. By the 65th, he was being driven off the pitch on a stretcher and replaced by Javier Mascherano.
A forceful tackle from Roma hard man Radja Nainggolan had seen Rafinha's right knee buckle as he was brought down. Immediately, it looked bad. When he was placed on a stretcher, you knew it was. The following day, it was confirmed: a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The dreaded news.
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Season done.
"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," said Nainggolan on Twitter on Thursday, an apology Rafinha will surely accept but one that won't at all calm Luis Enrique.
"It is a very ugly injury," the Barcelona manager said afterward to beIN Sports (h/t ESPN FC). "The injury has affected the game and the spirit of the players."
It would have been impossible for it not to.
Rafinha adds to a growing list of injured players that's threatening to undermine Barcelona's season before it's really begun. On it presently with the Brazilian are Dani Alves, Thomas Vermaelen, Claudio Bravo and Douglas. Additionally, Gerard Pique is serving a four-game ban in the league, Pedro Rodriguez has left, Xavi has left and new signings Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal can't kick a ball until January.
In Madrid, Marca said Barcelona were down to their "skeleton crew" in midfield. In Catalonia, an agitated Sport asked, "What do you do now, Luis Enrique?" It's a good question. For the midfield three, Enrique has only five options at his disposal for almost four months. Ditto for the front three. To find more, he'll need to go to the B team.
Compounding the issue is Barcelona's fixture list prior to Christmas. Already, the Catalans have completed an extensive pre-season campaign, the UEFA Super Cup (in Tbilisi, of all places), the Spanish Super Cup and trips in the league to the San Mames and the Vicente Calderon. Still to come before the winter break are visits of the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, the Bernabeu and the Mestalla. Then, Barcelona go to the other side of the planet to Japan for the Club World Cup.
"When you have these types of situations the easiest thing to do is to come up with excuses, but I don't think that would help us," Mascherano said after the victory over Atletico Madrid, per Sid Lowe of the Guardian. He'd been asked if there's a sense of fatalism within the squad ahead of such an arduous period.
Even if there isn't, an already hard task has been made much harder.
For Real Madrid, then, it's an enormous opportunity. One they must take.
Three seasons have now passed since Madrid last won La Liga in 2011-12, a lone title in a seven-year stretch that has become the club's leanest run in the league since pre-Alfredo Di Stefano. In the same time, Barcelona have lifted the trophy on five occasions.
In the Primera Division, it's a power shift that is historic, but Real now have a chance to end it. While the Catalans contemplate how to nurse their squad until the new year, Madrid's is as deep as can be, Rafa Benitez having already indulged himself in his favourite pastime of rotation in the season's opening weeks.
Los Blancos also have a more gentle fixture list ahead. Having clocked up considerably fewer miles by not being involved in the pair of Super Cups, Madrid host the season's first Clasico and don't go to the Mestalla until January.
Though they are still set to go to the San Mames, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and the Vicente Calderon before then, Benitez's men only travel to three of their five toughest opposition venues in the pre-Christmas period. Barcelona visit all five of theirs.
Thus, there's a sense the 2015-16 league title could be defined by the season's opening half. If Barcelona, with their daunting early schedule, are able to remain within close proximity of the top of the table until January, they'll be mightily difficult to stop when Turan and Vidal give them a post-Christmas injection.
But—and this is the crucial bit—just getting to Christmas is the hard part.
Real Madrid, therefore, have an opportunity to put daylight between themselves and their fiercest rivals by that point. Fresher, deeper, healthier and perhaps even hungrier after last season's failures, Madrid have the circumstances they need, the cocktail of factors that could help them topple the Blaugrana.
If ever Real were going to be presented with a chance to overcome Barcelona's Lionel Messi-led dominance, this is it. Between now and the new year is Real Madrid's opportunity.
It's one they must seize.
