UpdatedAFeb 26, 2013 3:06 AM ET Who will win the newest Clasico? Learn and join the debate. All crises are general. At the stratospheric level occupied by the worldas two greatest basketball groups, Real Madrid and Barcelona, rapid reduction from the Champions League, failing woefully to retain the Spanish group title and the sting of passing up on the Copa del Rey, Spainas domestic pot competition might constitute a five-alarm turmoil. On Tuesday, century-old mortal enemies Real will be hosted by Barca in the 2nd leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. The very first game in Madrid ended in a draw meaning the teams have all to play for. The game can be used by the winner to enhance their period. The loser, meanwhile, will plunge ever deeper to the depths of the despair. Barcelona were supposed to win this yearas Champions League a' but following a terrible evening in Milan, it isnat looking like they'll. Therefore when they must certanly be broken out of the Copa del Rey as properly, a dark pall will go over what was allowed to be yet another year of glistening glory. Real passed from group competition nearly just it began, thanks to an 3-2-2 start and lots of stumbles since. In the Champions League, meanwhile, they will need to get a result at Manchester United after settling for a draw at home, handing their friends the crucial advantage on away targets. Barca and Real were both seriously unconvincing inside their respective 2-1 come-from-behind wins over Sevilla and Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, also given that they rested some regulars, to make matters worse. Manager Jose Mourinho is already bearing immense force, from outside of the team as well as within his squad, where in actuality the experienced core has voiced about its weakness using their psychological manager. He absolutely wonat be long for Real, and getting bounced from the competition heas almost certainly to gain in 2010 could be the final thing he wants. Which star players might be headed to new clubs this summer? Learn more in the Rumor Redux. Barcelona doesnat even have a manager: their instructor, Tito Vilanova is undergoing cancer therapy in Ny. His associate, Jordi Roura, has the reins -- and has seen the team let slip targets in the last a dozen games. As is natural in Spain, both coaches started lobbing their injections and gabs forth and back through a willing press. It started innocuously enough, with Roura saying that he hoped the referees wonat be described as a issue, which, in fact, they typically are in this hard-fought and nerve-shattering competition. Mourinho, who hasn't been shy about starting a vicious war of words or indeed rising one, answered sarcastically that mind aprefer to keep within the lessons we've acquired in the past from Barcelona a lessons in sportsmanship, how exactly to be in baseball. Not speaking about referees, not surrounding them, trying to get opponents booked.a He was referring, obviously, to Realas gripe about Barca playersa supposed penchant for flopping and badgering the ref. Barca proper back Dani Alves, meanwhile, stated that aif we perform at 100 percent, we is likely to be back in another large closing. It only depends on us.a He added that aMadrid has to select it since their entire time is on the line.a Barca talisman Lionel Messi, the least self-absorbed superstar to actually walk the world, implored his teammates to anot get mad about the result in Milan or the first half against Sevilla.a aIn front of our very own supporters we do not have any choice but to go for a gain against Real Madrid,a included the little Argentine forward. Shock can not start thinking that a draw will be enough.a It'll, theoretically, since Barcaas away goal in Madrid will rely double as is if the score remains. Take a walk through Cristiano Ronaldo's outstanding career times. But his point stands. As actually, this sport has as numerous geopolitical benefits as sporting ones. The Clasico, so called, has always served as a proxy for the struggle between the central Spanish government in Madrid a' and previously General Francoas dictatorship a and secession-minded Catalonia and its capital and pride Barcelona. Nothing provides their area greater pleasure than when Barca gets one on the capitalas mark. One could think Franco-era stresses may have eroded by now, but Catalonia continues to agitate for the freedom, a message that's strengthened recently, as Spain slogs through a crippling recession. Almost 111 years and 221 games since their first competition in 1902 (a 3-1 Barca gain in Madrid), the Clasico remains an urgent game, a standoff between contrasting ideologies and identities marked as a baseball game. Tempers will flare; exceptions will be studied. And when itas throughout, theyall sleep uncomfortably in the knowledge they have to handle each other again in a sport on Saturday, in Madrid. Leander Schaerlaeckens has written about basketball for the Guardian, the New York Times, ESPN The Magazine and World Soccer. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderOnFOX.
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