Barcelona vs Real Madrid - Spanish big guns unite ahead of El Clasico to pay tribute to Cruyff

Posted Saturday, April 02, 2016 by PA

Barcelona and Real Madrid will pay an emotional tribute to Johan Cruyff before resuming hostilities in their latest eagerly-anticipated El Clasico fixture on Saturday.

This weekend's clash at the Nou Camp will be Barca's first outing since the death of their former player and manager Cruyff, one of the greatest and most influential figures in their history.

A minute's silence will be observed before kick-off with a special video tribute having been produced for the big screen. Fans will also hold up a mosaic in homage to the Dutchman.

How the occasion affects the atmosphere and performance of league leaders Barca remains to be seen, but manager Luis Enrique believes the most poignant tribute would be to win the match.

Cruyff himself starred as a player in a 5-0 thrashing of Real in his first season at Barca in 1974, a victory which provided one of the highlights of a first La Liga title-winning campaign in 14 years.

"What Johan Cruyff would like, more than tributes, is for us to win the game because we deserve to, by playing good, spectacular football," Enrique said.

"Our idea of football is all about putting on a show. Not just winning, but winning with style. That's why we sign a certain kind of player.

"We look for individual flair through command of the ball and a clear idea of how to play. There have been different managers over the years, all with different approaches to the same method.

"It's not easy to do. Other teams have tried it, but you need to stay faithful to the idea, even when the results aren't going so well."

Enrique, whose record-breaking team are unbeaten in 39 matches in all competitions, has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from with only defender Jeremy Mathieu (knee) injured.

"We're going into the game in great form," Enrique added.

"The game needs everyone to be at 100%, and apart from Jeremy, all the other players have come back from international duty in perfect condition and thinking about tomorrow's game."

Mathieu was injured in France's 4-2 win over Russia on Tuesday when fellow French defender Raphael Varane suffered a muscle injury to his left ankle.

Varane will be missing for Real, whose manager Zinedine Zidane said: "The problem is we cannot control these things.

"He played the second game with France, he had some sort of injury. We don't know exactly what it is.

"We did an ultrasound scan this morning and we will now do an MRI scan to see what it really is that he has. These things can happen if you have two games very close together."

This will be Zidane's first El Clasico as a boss, although he featured in many as a Real player.

The Madrid outfit were humbled 4-0 in November's reverse fixture, before Zidane took over, but have won their last four La Liga fixtures.

Zidane added: "It's not an exam. We have a good dynamic, we have been doing well recently and we are continuing with our work. It is one game more, an important game."

Barcelona hold a nine-point lead at the top of the table and a 10-point advantage over third-placed Real.