So far, BBC – Bale-Benzema-Cristiano Ronaldo – and MSN – Messi-Neymar-Suarez – have scored 38 goals in the season, with 16 goals for the first trio and 22 goals for the second. They are among the most lethal attacks in the Spanish La Liga, and the object of desire and longing of many big clubs. But BBC and MSN also reflect the gasping schism between Spain’s two traditional powerhouses.

As the season is slowly about to enter its second quarter, Spanish media, pundits and fans have one question on their lips: are both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid stuttering? It is almost a rhetorical question in the literary sense – one to make a point, an otiose sentiment and a gratuitous observation in the never-ending 24/7 football carrousel.

Real Madrid had four consecutive draws – against Villareal, Las Palmas, Eibar and Dortmund. Alaves and Celta Vigo defeated Barcelona in La Liga. Today, Atletico Madrid tops the table, the insurgent club led by the combative Diego Simeone and a rampant Antoine Griezmann.

The inconsistency in the capital and in Catalonia has led to doubts and disquiet. And anxiety has propagated a crisis. “This is a crisis,” Blackadder would shout of the situation – against his dogsbody Baldrick. “A large crisis. In fact, if you got a moment, it's a twelve-storey crisis with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour portage, and an enormous sign on the roof, saying "This Is a Large Crisis". A large crisis requires a large plan.”

Alternative, the English anti-hero would say: “Bullocks!”

A real problem?

In truth, neither Real Madrid nor FC Barcelona are in a crisis. The difference between the two clubs is that Madrid are teetering on the edge of a cataclysm that may derail their season. Results have been underwhelming and Madrid’s game, outright poor, just the sum of eleven players – some galactic, some semi-star studded and others just blue collar – but nothing more.

That’s precisely the drawback to Zidane’s Real Madrid: even after lifting the trophy with the big ears, the Champions League, in May 2016 with a victory against their cross-town rivals, even after nearly getting a record 16 consecutive wins in the domestic league, Madrid seem shorn of an identity, shorn of a "footballistic" idea that underpins their game. The French novice coach has enjoyed nearly ten months at the helm, but a Zizou DNA is absent in his team.

No problem

At FC Barcelona, that idea has never been missing, a venerated and ingrained 4-3-3 system that has been developed, honed and fine-tuned by different coaches and players. “Our idea is about creative and associative football," Joan Vila Bosch, FC Barcelona’s head of methodology told Scroll.in. “By simply watching Barcelona you see that our aim is to have the ball, dominate the game and generate superiority – through ball possession. That is the idea that has been growing in Barcelona for the last 30 years.”

Bosch has been eulogising the beautiful game, the Barcelona way, for years. He played with Johan Cruyff and, as a youth coach, helped shape the careers of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, and Cesc Fabregas at Nou Camp. Today he coaches the coaches at the club, but is also tasked with ensuring the continuity of the famed style of play and philosophy that has made the club iconic around the world.

“I have grown up [with] and believed in the idea of associative football, with a lot of attacking,” said Joan Villa. “Over the years I have seen that creative and attacking football is not only aesthetic, in the sense of jogo bonito, but is also a winning approach. Barcelona wins. That’s why we keep following this idea.”

The difference between the two

MSN is a perfect illustration of Joan Vila’s explanation. Luis Suarez and Neymar didn’t grow up with the "Barcelona way", but they have been seamlessly integrated next to Lionel Messi, an in-house product. The South American trio have a blind understanding, often resulting in superlative movements and goals. Yet MSN is also incorporated into the rest of the Barcelona team, a trio part of a larger XI.

Advertisement

That is not the case with BBC. They are individualistic, bereft of a collective idea. They also make Real Madrid top-heavy.

Madrid don’t play at the edge of contemporary football sophistication. In fact, they haven’t for a while. Zidane’s XI often resembles a glorified Rafa Benitez outfit. The Madrid coach said that he would work on solutions for his team during the international break. Ahead of the encounter with Real Betis, Zidane reiterated that he is no magician. Rightly so. He can’t be expected to, ad hoc, instil a playing culture and style into a club that hasn't had one, and perhaps doesn't want one.

However, Zidane must show that he is building a team and a future. The whimsical Madrid president Florentino Perez has less space to manoeuvre in, thanks to the FIFA-imposed transfer ban on his club. Unless Zidane can bring in a more expansionist style of play, making up for the current footballing deficit, Madrid may well plunge into a real crisis.