Usually billed as a clash of superstars, this season’s first El Clasico will feature La Liga’s most promising youngsters instead as it will be the first meeting between Barcelona and Real Madrid without either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
Vinicius Junior and Ansu Fati are becoming the new faces of their clubs, but they will still have a lot to prove when the two meet at Sunday’s Clasico at Camp Nou.
On Barcelona's side, Fati has been one of the few positives in a season that started with the heartbreaking loss of Messi to Paris Saint-Germain due to a financial crisis that also led to Antoine Griezmann rejoining Atletico Madrid.
After being out for almost a year following a devastating injury to his left knee that required four surgeries, the 18-year-old Spain international returned to the side five games ago and has been Barca's best player since.
He scored within 10 minutes of coming on as a substitute in his first game back against Levante and netted Barca's first goal with a beauty from outside the box in a comeback victory over Valencia last Sunday.
His efforts were rewarded on Wednesday when Barcelona announced that he had agreed to a new contract that runs until 2027. The 18-year-old's new deal includes a buyout clause of 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion).
Fati, who inherited Barcelona’s number 10 jersey from Messi, burst onto the scene for the club at 16, when he became the second-youngest player in La Liga history.
He quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in the world, becoming the youngest player to score in the Champions League and the youngest player to net for Spain.
He is likely to provide Barcelona's main threat alongside Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero, whose own comeback from a calf injury he suffered in preseason continued with cameo appearances against Valencia and Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League on Wednesday.
For Real Madrid, Karim Benzema is having probably the best season of his career and is a contender to win the Ballon d'Or.
He is La Liga's top scorer, with nine goals and seven assists, but despite the France international's excellent form, the headlines in the Spanish capital this week were focused on his partner up front.
The 21-year-old Brazilian Vinicius scored a brace in Real's 5-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk and with seven goals in 11 games this season, he has already improved on last season's output, when he scored six times in 49 appearances.
Often criticized in years past for his poor finishing, Vinicius has improved under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti, with his seven goals coming from only 17 attempts.
On Sunday, Vinicius will have the chance at Camp Nou to keep silencing his critics.
Having shone against Barcelona the last time the sides met at Santiago Bernabeu in March 2020, with a superb goal, he will arrive on a mission and be difficult to stop.
Navigating the present while nurturing the future may be another defining feature of this Clasico, a meeting of two historic clubs, each of them trying to strategize, fix and rebuild while simultaneously flapping their arms just to keep heads above water.
Ancelotti and Koeman have both embraced youth and they can take some of the credit for shining the light on Fati and Vinicius.
But there also remains a loyalty to the old guard, a justifiable belief that Gerard Pique at 34 is still Barcelona's most important defender or that Luka Modric at 36 is still Madrid's finest midfield playmaker.
The result on Sunday will be two sides made up of different generations. The 17-year-old Gavi may play alongside the 33-year-old Sergio Busquets or the 20-year-old Rodrygo in support of the 33-year-old Benzema.
It means whoever wins the Clasico on Sunday will, for a few days, own the narrative, take confidence and momentum, and perhaps plunge their opponents into a period of crisis and doubt.
But beneath the scrap for points and position and power is a deeper duel, a fight for relevance again and reassurance that better days lie ahead.
