Barça have started working. Real Madrid have started their vacation.
Real Madrid's planning for the 2025-26 season inspires trust in FC Barcelona's environment. The white team's participation in the Club World Cup, at untimely dates, could take its toll.
The fact is simple, but forceful. There are only 40 days (40 días) between the last match of the previous season and the first of the next one.
The schedule has been suffocating and the preparation, insufficient. People are not only saying this in Barcelona. Experts support it.
The FIFA Club World Cup, after a season without rest, has worn several of the heavyweights in the merengue locker room to the limit. That could have serious consequences in the medium term.
Five Real Madrid players at the limit
Five Real Madrid footballers are among the fifteen who have played the most matches in the world during the last campaign. The number doesn't lie: Jude Bellingham, Fede Valverde, Antonio Rüdiger, Vinícius Jr., and Eduardo Camavinga have each played more than 60 matches.
No body can withstand that pace without consequences. Muscle injuries and physical decline are two very real threats that could affect the performance of a team that will be forced to compete on six fronts this season.
Barça are clear about it: what's coming is a perfect storm for the whites.
Barça know it: "There will be a debacle"
It's not an offhand remark. From the blaugrana locker room, authoritative voices are already predicting what they believe will be a turning point.
"Madrid will pay dearly for the wear and tear," they say. There's no acrimony in the comment, but a conviction based on data.
A summer with hardly any training, no time to disconnect, and a more demanding schedule than ever. Real Madrid have walked right into a trap that could cost it dearly.
In Barcelona, people don't forget that these kinds of mistakes are paid for in March. That's when the key moments of the season arrive and the legs no longer respond.
Wrong planning
Xabi Alonso has inherited a brilliant but exhausted team. He knows it. That's why he has asked for a broader rotation.
Even so, it's impossible to avoid the inevitable. If the team's pillars arrive burned out in the fall, it'll be impossible to keep up the pace in the spring.
Meanwhile, optimism reigns at Barça. There's no rush, no wear and tear, no surprises.
Quite the opposite. They trust that next season will finally be the season of reconquest.
If the debacle comes to Bernabéu, even better.