With Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, Leo Messi and Bojan Krkic, supported by Andres Iniesta and Eidur Gudjohnsen, Barcelona has more options in attack than Real Madrid. Madrid relies heavily on the injury prone Arjen Robben, Gonzalo Higuain and Raul Gonzalez.

Should Madrid progress in Europe, Juande would have to rest his strikers in La Liga and while Guardiola has players who can step forward, the Real Madrid coach lacks that luxury.

The fixture calendar also gives Barcelona a slight advantage. Although the league leader has to visit Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and Valencia, Barcelona will play other teams such as Sevilla, Villarreal and Malagaat home.

Real Madrid has to travel to Villarreal, Valencia, Sevilla, Valladolid Malaga and Athletic Bilbao's San Mames stadium. It will be a miracle if they take maximum points from those games and with Barcelona already 10 points ahead, dropping points is something Real Madrid cannot afford to do.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)