From the hat trick when he was still a beardless youth going through that goal in the semifinals at the Bernabéu in which he went through the entire white defense and practically certified the elimination of Jose Mourinho’s first Real Madrid in the round prior to the Champions League final and even the goal in the final stretch of LaLiga in which he silenced the Bernabéu and raised his shirt to the sky.

Leo Messi is the patrimony of El Clásico and has left images in unforgettable encounters.

If he is the best player who never went through these clashes depends on the personal criteria of each one, but the data if they place him as the highest historical scorer with 19 goals in 44 games against Real Madrid. A gunner who, in recent seasons, has been slowed down.

After his goal in 2-2 at the Bernabéu on matchday 36 of LaLiga 17-18, Leo Messi does not know what it is to score again in a Classic and goes through the longest streak without scoring against Real Madrid, that already lasts eight games and that he will try to break this Saturday from 9:00 p.m. at the Alfredo Di Stéfano, where he will play for the first time against Real Madrid.

Since the aforementioned goal, Messi missed the 5-1 after fracturing his forearm in a match against Sevilla and on the return leg in Madrid on matchday 26 it was Rakitic who scored the only goal of the match.

That same season, 18/19, Real Madrid and Barcelona met in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey and Leo did not score either. In the first leg, which played less than half an hour, he was left blank at 1-1 at the Camp Nou.

At the Bernabéu there was a 0-3 victory with a double from Suárez and an own goal from Varane, but without a goal from Messi.

Since those last victories, it is no longer that Messi scores or not, it is that Barcelona cannot defeat Real Madrid. On matchday 10 of last season there was a goalless Clásico and on the twenty-sixth, Barça left the Bernabéu with a 2-0 scoreline with two little-expected scorers, Mariano Díaz and Vinicius Jr. The Brazilian will arrive with a fine-tuned aim for this weekend’s game after scoring twice against Liverpool.

This campaign, Ansu Fati joined the El Clásico scorers’ list but Leo failed to break the losing streak. A bad streak that also stands out at the level of assists since in all the aforementioned matches he did not give any goal pass either.

El Clásico awaits the best Messi who adds a spectacular scoring streak since the end of January in the League with consecutive goals against Athletic, Betis, Alavés (2), Cádiz, Elche (2) and Seville.

Against Osasuna he remained at zero, but contributed the two assists for the two goals of the victory against Huesca and Real Sociedad repeated with two doublets. Before El Clásico, there was a blur against Valladolid (neither goal nor assistance), but if anyone can turn it around, it’s Leo Messi.

One last dance?

In the calendar there will be no more Classics this season and the future of Leo Messi is still in the air. Since January 1 of this year, he was free to negotiate with whoever he wanted and, for the moment, his future is a mystery to be resolved with a commitment that will end with Barcelona on June 30.

With no news about his plans, although the waters seem to go down calmer, there are options that this will be his last Real Madrid-Barcelona. Will you ‘say goodbye’ with a goal?

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