Diego Simeone’s side retain faint hopes of winning La Liga but both teams seem more concerned with European ambitions when they meet at the Bernabéu
On the eve of the Madrid derby Zinedine Zidane was asked to whom the game mattered more. “Both,” he said, but many wondered if the right answer was actually “Neither”. The word repeated most in the build-up to this match is “decaffeinated”. These city rivals have faced each other in three finals over the last five seasons – two European Cups, one Copa del Rey – and met in last year’s Champions League semi-final too. Both have also won La Liga and they have European quarter-finals of their own next week, so it is understandable that this time it feels as if something is missing – the league, for a start: with eight games to go that is Barcelona’s already, or so it seems.
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