Barcelona to regain its balance.. and Real Madrid and Atletico are watching

Until these two matches, Barcelona had won all their games this season, but their first two defeats revealed some weaknesses.

Flick said after the loss in the Clasico, "We are not playing at our best level, and it is related to the physical condition."

He added, "We must regain energy within the team," before giving his players two days of rest.

Flick stressed that fatigue and lack of physical fitness were the main reason for his team's first two defeats.

By relying on high pressing and an advanced defense, the more exhausted Barcelona suffered from the rapid transitions of two teams that are good at exploiting spaces and launching behind the defenders.

Absences in the defensive line

Barcelona resumed its training on Wednesday in preparation for the match against Alaves, which it will host while its defensive line still suffers from injuries.

In the match against the Basque team, Flick will continue to miss full-backs Xavi Espart and Eric Garcia, as well as Danish center-back Andreas Christensen, while French defender Jules Kounde is racing against time to be included in the match list.

The defensive line is considered one of the lines that Flick has made the most adjustments to since the beginning of the season, and he will have to work on it again on Saturday.

Up front, the Brazilian Raphinha will continue to get more minutes after returning from the injury he sustained with his national team during the last international break.

The Brazilian, the top scorer in the league with 13 goals, two goals ahead of Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe, resumed his scoring record with a goal against the capital team.

Restoring the best version of Raphinha is considered essential to return Barcelona to the winning track, given that it also possesses its young star Lamine Yamal.

The Catalan winger will have to overcome the disappointment resulting from not winning the Ballon d'Or last Monday, which went to the Englishman Harry Kane, the striker for Bayern Munich of Germany.

Yamal wrote on his Instagram account, "My turn will come one day."

The young winger added, "My focus is now back on what is important, which is returning Barcelona to the winning path."

Yamal occupies third place in the league's top scorers list with eight goals, and he has also provided six assists, but he failed to find the net during the Clasico after Marc Cucurella succeeded in limiting his danger thanks to close marking.

Real Madrid and Atletico are watching

Alaves represents a suitable opportunity to regain offensive effectiveness in a match that Barcelona needs to win in light of the approach of its most prominent competitors.

A new defeat for Barcelona against the Basque team could allow Atletico Madrid, the second-placed team in the league, to overtake the current leader.

Atletico is only two points away from Barcelona, and it will take the lead if it wins at the Levante stadium in the event that Barcelona stumbles against Alaves.

Real Madrid, third, three points behind Barcelona, also has a chance to equalize the Catalan team's score if it wins tomorrow, Sunday, against Racing Santander.

This will be Mbappe's first match after the major problem caused by his statements regarding China.

The French star seemed to be joking about the former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, which led to major repercussions.

The "Blues" player later apologized, as did his club and the Spanish League, while China confirmed that it takes the apology "seriously," after a wave of anger led to the suspension of "La Liga" matches and the cancellation of Chinese sponsorship contracts with Mbappe.

Mbappe's original joke was not reposted on the heavily censored Chinese social media platforms, or perhaps it was deleted from them, while state media avoided any reference to Mao, and only said that the player made "inappropriate remarks regarding China."

Bundesliga

Bayern Munich, the title holder, hosts its traditional rival Borussia Dortmund on Saturday in the eighth round, in a match that comes after a week full of fluctuations within the Bavarian club, which included a health crisis for the Belgian coach Vincent Kompany, in addition to its English striker Harry Kane winning the Ballon d'Or award.

The captain of the German national team, Joshua Kimmich, one of the main pillars in Bayern's midfield, has been absent from the team for three matches after he was granted leave for family reasons following the sudden death of his father.

A number of the team's players also suffered from injuries, most notably the Colombian Luis Diaz, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, Jamal Musiala, and Aleksandar Pavlovic.

These circumstances cast a shadow over the preparations for the match, which is usually considered the most prominent in the Bundesliga calendar, after the spotlight on it receded relatively amidst the successive developments within the Bavarian club.

After seven rounds of the season, Bayern and Dortmund are the only two teams that have not tasted defeat and are equal in points, with an advantage for the host, Bayern, on goal difference.

For his part, Dortmund's Croatian coach Niko Kovac confirmed on Thursday that his team, which in turn faced a series of injuries this season, has become "closer" to the level of its Bavarian rival.

But the biggest challenge for Bayern will be to put all these developments aside and focus on the anticipated match in an attempt to confirm its superiority and continue its journey without defeat.

An exceptional week at Bayern

After showing symptoms of illness during Bayern's 6-1 crushing victory over Leipzig, Kompany returned to the technical area in the match that ended in a 2-2 draw at home against Arsenal of England last week, before collapsing on the training ground just two days later.

After being diagnosed with meningitis, the Belgian coach left the hospital on Wednesday after spending five days under medical care, but Bayern's management clarified that his return to work might take "weeks, not days."

In the absence of Kompany, his English assistant Aaron Danks took responsibility for leading the team, expressing his hope that the emotional fluctuations the club has experienced in recent days will contribute to strengthening the players' cohesion and team spirit.

Danks said on Tuesday, "You have witnessed over the past week the various ups and downs of life, between the joys and happy moments that Harry experienced, and the difficulties we had to face over the past seven days."

He added, "We must find balance within the team... In such moments, we realize that the human being remains the most important thing of all."

He continued, "Such circumstances bring us closer to each other, because they put us in front of difficult challenges, but overcoming them requires relying on team spirit and solidarity among all its members."

On the other side of the emotional scene, the "Three Lions" striker Kane is living in a celebratory atmosphere, after winning the highest individual award in the world of football on Monday, the Ballon d'Or.

Kane described the week he lived on Wednesday as "crazy" for him and the club, adding, "I feel a bit embarrassed because of all this attention, but I realize it is a big award."

He continued, "It was an eventful 48 hours, and it is nice to be back here and feel like I am at home again."

Kane became the first English player since Michael Owen in 2001, and the fifth English player in history to win the Ballon d'Or, amidst calls to grant the England captain a knighthood in recognition of his achievement.

Kane commented on these calls, saying, "I certainly wouldn't refuse that, but it would be a bit strange when everyone calls me 'Sir', so let's keep it at Harry."

He added, "If that happens, it would be exceptional and a source of great pride for me, but I don't want to overstate expectations."

For his part, German football legend Lothar Matthaus, who won the Ballon d'Or in 1990 when he was a player for Inter Milan of Italy, believed that this honor would be an additional incentive for Kane to continue shining.

Matthaus said in statements to Agence France-Presse and other media on Wednesday, "When you win the Ballon d'Or, the story does not end there, but it should be an additional motivation for you."

He added, "For me, winning this award was a great honor, but football is a team sport. And this Ballon d'Or does not belong to Kane alone, but it is also for Bayern Munich."