Messi is back, while Benitez is feeling the heat

Lionel Messi was determined, and so were Barcelona. As the Argentine ramped up his training to get fit in time for this weekend — and not just any old weekend it is — his club clamped down. No pictures of him on the pitch, they told the media team.

But the secret was sizeable and they could not keep it forever. Barcelona face Real Madrid in the first Clasico clash of the season on Sunday, and Messi has resurfaced in time to face them.

The club have awaited his return for nearly two months. It is close now.

Game by game Barcelona have gone since their talisman’s injury against Las Palmas in September, chasing Real in the table while Messi chased full fitness, until now they have arrived at the game. In the time since, the champions have climbed into the lead in the Spanish La Liga.

Twelve matches in is no time to declare anything decisive, but this is as close as it gets to a direct title showdown, mano a mano, the way it is meant to be. Score, and Messi stands to take his team further clear at the top. Score, and he will exceed his compatriot Alfredo Di Stefano in the charts for goals in a Clasico.

The possibility Messi could be back has not escaped the press’ attention. He and Cristiano Ronaldo, his opposite number at Real, have dominated the front of newspapers. This in a Clasico they may not dominate for once — in terms of the actual action on the pitch, anyway. The papers have been proclaiming Messi’s return. As for Ronaldo, they are already waving goodbye to him at the end of the season.

Sunday will see the scrutiny on the Portuguese doubled, his display against Barcelona combed for clues.

Only one month has passed since he wrote himself into Madrid’s history books by breaking Raul’s goalscoring record, yet more headlines are all he appears to have written since. Rumours linking him with a move back to Manchester United are rife. His powers on the pitch are on the wane, and have been for some time.

With eight strikes in 11 league games — an acceptable return for most players, except Ronaldo is not most players — he has looked like a stranger in his natural habitat. His goal gluts have dried up, and so, apparently, has his motivation at Madrid. The 30-year-old is a player “playing under protest” and “not enjoying the game”, according to the club’s former director, Jorge Valdano.

The source of concern before Barcelona’s visit is that Ronaldo has netted his league total over only four games, going barren in the rest. Not even how well his teammates Keylor Navas, Marcelo and Casemiro are performing can camouflage how poor he has looked at times this term.

Another goalless game from their talisman saw Real succumb 3-2 at Sevilla before the international break. It was the first game that Rafael Benitez had lost at the Bernabeu. But, more alarmingly, he appeared to have lost his dressing room too. After the game, James Rodriguez questioned the boss’ decisions, joining pillars such as Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos in doing so this season.

Worse was that Ronaldo reportedly delivered Madrid president Florentino Perez an ultimatum: “him or me”. The coach’s attempts to start his star as the centre-forward in his system instead of on the flanks has not been well received. Valdano claims the winger he helped sign in 2009 “is playing in a position he does not like”. Fail to produce against Barcelona, and this debate could grow deafening.

At this stage last season, Ronaldo had netted 16 league goals — twice his tally now. The statistics make for increasingly painful reading.

Nearing his first battle with Barcelona, Benitez is forced to defend himself from suggestions that his Madrid are boring. They currently have three points less, and scored 16 fewer goals, than at the same stage under Carlo Ancelotti last year.

Madrid handed Benitez a prestigious yet endlessly more thankless appointment, taking over from the popular Italian. His side have been accused of losing the spontaneity and expressiveness in their play with rigorously drilled and rehearsed tactics. Never mind that they still win. They have failed to win over critics.

But it is a little different when your critics are your own players — individuals who enjoy the ears of the president. Especially when your club’s all-time top-scorer and most cherished possession is among the staunchest of them. Who knows what else people might say, should Real falter on Sunday.

Despite the faults, the scrutiny is lopsided and often exaggerated. Even though he is wrongly judged based on what others would like him to do, rather than on what he is trying to do, Benitez is desperate to swing what precious little momentum he had to begin with back to his side. Few results expose flaws like losing a Clasico; few hide them like winning a Clasico. His future may depend on it.

Real’s fortunes this season do too. Losing further ground in the table to arch-rivals Barcelona will be a major blemish, and blemishes do not sit comfortably at this feudally-run club. If Luis Enrique, the Catalans’ coach, was inclined to show sympathy for his counterpart’s struggles, he may already have done so.

The 45-year-old understands internal strife better than most, enduring it and then overcoming it as he led Barcelona to a treble in his debut season.

His second campaign has not failed to challenge either, despite a transfer ban and the injury blow to Messi. The La Liga leaders were at their most vulnerable when consecutive away losses to Celta Vigo and Sevilla followed. At that point, they risked allowing Madrid to disappear into the distance.

Instead, Messi’s absence has been to Luis Suarez and Neymar’s betterment, the duo now truly elevated in importance. Both have combined to net all of Barcelona’s last 17 goals. The magic — particularly of the latter — has flown freely. Anchored by Sergio Busquets and inspired by Andres Iniesta, so have the points. “There is no mention of a dependence on Messi because the team is winning,” said Enrique.

Equally, that Benitez has managed to keep Madrid within touching distance at the top in spite of long-term injuries to Rodriguez, Benzema and Gareth Bale, is going something for him. Which is not a lot in Madrid coaching currency, but something he nevertheless can build on going into the crucial clash.

Messi has resurfaced in time for El Clasico. Now Benitez must see if he can do the same to Ronaldo.

Stats

* Real Madrid and Barcelona have faced each other 170 times in the league since 1929

* Madrid have won 71 of the matches, and Barcelona have triumphed on 67 occasions. There have been 32 draws.

* Last season, Real defeated Barcelona 3-1 at the Bernabeu (Oct 25) but subsequently lost 1-2 at the Nou Camp (Mar 22)

The writer is a freelance football journalist who follows the European leagues closely and writes for several websites.