By Sa’ad Naseem

Both sides of the El Classico are fierce, here is a summary of the last season.

Regardless of how the year started – with a nomination and eventually victory in the race to winning the Ballon D’or – 2016 has thus far proved to be a declining year for Lionel Messi. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has been climbing the ladder of success with victories in the Champions League, representing his club Real Madrid, and at the Euro Cup, representing his country Portugal.

On the Catalan’s side, since the departure of Xavi Hernandez, Lionel Messi, alongside Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta has frequently been spotted wearing the captain’s arm band. The Argentinian scored 26 goals in 33 appearances, falling behind Cristiano Ronaldo and leader of the dynamic trio of FC Barcelona, Luis Suarez with 35 and 40 goals respectively. These heavy contributions of the attackers lead to the Catalans clinching the La Liga Trophy.

Real Madrid’s 2015/16 season on the other hand can be divided into two halves, the Rafa Benitez and the Zinedine Zidane. Under Coach Rafa, the team struggled with multiple long practice sessions, whilst Zidane’s practice sessions were accommodating to the styles of the individuals and also open to unorthodox practice sets where he would himself participate in the drills. This greatly affected the performance of the team, raising the morale and eventually taking a liftoff towards the top of the table, giving Barcelona a tough time for, what seemed to be a rather comfortable title victory.

Both teams begin their season of 2016/17 with interesting picks for pre-season friendlies.

FC Barcelona

• Celtic vs FC Barcelona – 9 P.M – 30^th July 2016
• FC Barcelona vs Leicester – 10 P.M – 03^rd August 2016
• Liverpool vs FC Barcelona – 8:15 P.M – 06^th August 2016

Real Madrid

• Real Madrid vs PSG – 01:30 AM – 28^th July 2016
• Real Madrid vs Chelsea – 9 PM – 30^th July 2016

The league starts on 19th August, whose side are you on?