Last March, Vinicius Jr. scored his first goal against Barcelona in a 2-0 win. In October, Ansu Fati scored his first El Clásico goal in the 3-1 loss at the Camp Nou. There is a sense that those goals were only the first of many for those two in the match-up, and it’s unfortunate that Fati will be unavailable this time around.
Vinicius Jr., meanwhile, will be featuring for Los Blancos, but it’s not like Karim Benzema has passed the torch just yet. The same goes for Lionel Messi, who is the all-time goalscorer in the fixture with 26 goals. At the back, Sergio Ramos could miss his final El Clásico while foil Gerard Piqué is still questionable himself. With those injuries, plus the changing of the guard happening in Catalonia before our eyes, this El Clásico could be decided by some fresh faces.
Pedri did start in the match-up back in October, but for context, he started out wide opposite Philippe Coutinho and next to the double pivot of Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets. As far as the emergence of Pedri under Ronald Koeman, that seems like a lifetime ago. Since then, he’s been shifted to the center and has become an unquestionable starter for Barcelona’s best XI.
Ronald Araújo was still on the bench for that match and waiting for his opportunity with the first team. Óscar Mingueza, meanwhile, was getting the occasionally start for Barcelona B and waiting for his opportunity in the Segunda División B. Another reminder that a lot can change in six months. Even Riqui Puig has gone from never seeing the field to being a regular rotation player coming off the bench to close out games. Trincão did play in October as a substitute, and that just about makes him a veteran of El Clásico in comparison to the others.
For Mingueza and Puig, who both spent quite awhile in La Masia and played in the fixture at the academy level, an extra eye will be on them to see how they contribute if given the chance. Yet, there is one academy player that Real Madrid fans may already know about – it’s the player that scored a hat-trick against their U-19s as a 15-year-old.
Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembélé are both pretty green to El Clásico themselves, but they won’t get the same excuses that some of the younger players might. They’ll need to be major players. Fede Valverde in white is probably in a similar boat, having been one of the best players on the field in the previous two match-ups.
Unlike Ronald Koeman and his youth revolution, Zinedane Zidane doesn’t have too many players that would bring youthful naivety to El Clásico. Vinicius Jr. has played in the fixture in the last two while Rodrygo came off the bench in October, so they should be counted amongst the fresh faces as well. Sergio Arribas, the 19-year-old winger and attacking midfielder, would represent La Fabrica if he were to make his first appearance against Los Blancos’ eternal rivals. He’s made eight appearances for the first team this season, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s a spectator for this one.
With Ramos and Raphael Varane injured, Éder Militão will likely be playing in and starting his first El Clásico. In truth, the 23-year-old Brazilian centre-back could be the most influential fresh face in the fixture, for better or worse. He’s never matched up with Messi before and there’s a good chance the Argentine knows that. All these El Clásico debuts will give the fixture a different feeling, but make no mistake – expect this game to still be decided by the household names.
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Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
