Lionel Messi: Harder to play Real Madrid at Camp Nou

Lionel Messi believes it is harder for Barcelona to face Real Madrid at the Camp Nou than the Santiago Bernabeu, because of tactics.

The Argentine superstar spoke of Madrid preferring to sit very deep when playing away from home in El Clasico fixtures, meaning that they were much harder to break down and the game was not open.

However, he said that conversely the games in the Spanish capital saw Los Blancos attack more and thus leave more spaces for the opposition, which the Blaugrana’s players preferred.

Messi, speaking ahead of Wednesday night’s encounter between the two fierce rivals, believes that his side play in a similar style in the matches regardless of their location.

“When we play them at the Bernabeu, there is more space for us to play into," explained to Marca.

“They come to attack us more because there is more pressure on them as the host team and that allows us to play into the spaces left behind.

“At the Camp Nou they play another type of game because they sit further back, they are closer together and hit on the counter attack because they have very fast players in their attack.

“At the Bernabeu we play 90 minutes equally. Here the game becomes more closed down and they are more complicated.”

Madrid have failed to win a Clasico game in Catalonia since 2016 and were humiliated in the fixture last season – they were humbled 5-1 by a Messi-less home side, in Julen Lopetegui’s final game at the helm.

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