The first Clasico of the season takes place on Saturday at 16:15 CEST, and Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez is thinking of pulling a surprise. Given that the Blaugrana are now tending to five injured players, Xavi may need to go outside the box to halt Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid.
As he has done every time he has been able to call on the Uruguayan, Xavi is reportedly thinking of switching Ronald Araujo back to right-back in order to match him up against Vinicius Junior. Joao Cancelo would therefore have to be substituted for his customary right-back position.
Cancelo might be moved to a right-wing position ahead of Araujo because Raphinha is still recovering from an injury, Lamine Yamal is unlikely to play right away, and Ferran Torres is expected to play through the middle. Araujo’s position in center defense would presumably be filled by Inigo Martinez.
Xavi, who tackled Real Madrid last season with a four-midfielder system, might again utilize just two natural forwards if he went back to his safety-first strategy. Barcelona would have more security as a result, and he would have more choices off the bench if he needed to change up his attack.
Ancelotti might think about throwing his own surprise party. Of Real Madrid’s 13 games this season, Eduardo Camavinga has started ten of them. However, it appears that the Frenchman will miss out because the Italian boss values his contributions from the bench.