Thursday will see Barcelona and Real Madrid face off in the third El Clasico meeting of the season.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side won the first fixture 3-1 in La Liga, while Barca got their revenge in the Spanish Super Cup final, winning by the same scoreline in Riyadh.
Both fixtures saw Ronald Araujo utilised as a right back to great success, despite the Uruguayan having regularly featured in central defence under Xavi Hernandez this season. This ploy has been used in order to counteract Vinicius Jr, who Xavi believes is Real Madrid’s most important player.
Sport expect Araujo to line up at right back once again, and Carlo Ancelotti stated in his pre-match press conference that even if that is the case, he will not make any tactical changes involving Vinicius.
“We are not going to change. Of course, Araujo is a very, very strong defender. He’s showing it and it’s going to be an entertaining matchup. Hopefully Vinicius can win it.”
Vinicius has largely been nullified up against Araujo this season, but the Real Madrid man will hope that it is third time lucky on Thursday against Barcelona.
Image via EFE