Clásico rivals’ hopes rest on rising stars now Ramos and Messi have gone | Sid Lowe

Real Madrid and Barcelona meet in the league without either Sergio Ramos or Lionel Messi involved for first time since 2005

Eduardo Iturralde González could see it coming. “I saw Sergio Ramos running towards Leo Messi and I thought: ‘He’s going to whack him,’” the referee recalled – and he was right. It was late on a Monday night in November 2010, Messi was left on the floor, a fight started and Ramos was sent off. On Saturday afternoon they should have been preparing for the latest chapter in a seemingly never-ending story. Instead, though neither had exactly planned it this way, they found themselves at Camp de Loges, north of Paris. Together.

No one has played more clásicos than Ramos or Messi, who are both on 45. This summer, though, the captains of Real Madrid and Barcelona left Spain. Sunday’s will be the first clásico La Liga has had without either of them on the pitch since April 2005, 16 years ago. The first time they faced each other was the night the Bernabéu applauded Ronaldinho, a footballing generation ago. Now they are teammates at Paris Saint-Germain. They might have been housemates: when Messi landed in Paris, Ramos offered to put up their family in his home.