The Catalan giants have enjoyed another relatively successful season under Hansi Flick, though they were dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Atletico Madrid, and Los Rojiblancos are on the verge of advancing at Barca's expense in the Champions League.
Casado hamstrung by Bernal's emergence
Tuesday night will see the visitors to the Metroplitano having to turn around a two-goal deficit.
In the 379 previous matches that Diego Simeone has managed for Atleti at their home stadium (to include Vicente Calderon), visiting teams have won by a three-goal margin on only four occasions.
Losing the likes of Raphinha and Marc Bernal at such a crucial stage of the season has clearly hampered the club's efforts; however, when first-choice players are injured, it does allow others to carve out an opportunity for themselves.
One player that can perhaps consider himself unlucky not to have made more appearances this season is tigerish midfielder, Marc Casado.
Only six 90-minute appearances in 2025/26
To date in 2025/26, he's only played 90 minutes on six occasions in all competitions, and that might go some way to explaining why he's only managed one assist this season.
At 22 years of age, Casado clearly has a long career ahead of him, and one question he surely needs to ask himself is whether he sees part of that being stuck on the bench at Barca.
Last season appeared to be his breakout campaign, with 37 appearances made; however, since the emergence of Bernal after overcoming a serious knee injury, Casado has seen his minutes significantly curtailed.
That's because, when fit, Bernal has begun to cement his place as Hansi Flick's preferred defensive midfielder, whilst Frenkie de Jong can also play there if required.
Tottenham and West Ham to offer Casado a new home?
If Casado, therefore, wants to improve upon his minutes played, then a move away from Camp Nou would appear to be the most logical next step.
To that end, both Tottenham and West Ham are heavily rumoured to be interested in his services.
It isn't clear what his sale price would be at this stage, and given that Casado had once described Barca as 'the club of my life,' it's obviously going to be a huge wrench for the player to accept that he might no longer have a future there.
So what would the London rivals be getting for their money, assuming they stay in the Premier League and can tempt the player to swap Mediterranean warmth for unpredictable English weather?
Superb pass completion, but a lack of physicality
For a start, Casado's 90.6% pass completion over the last two seasons is a stand-out stat, given that the area in which he works is often heavily populated with players, and gives those in the defensive midfield positions precious little space and time to be able to get the ball to a teammate.
186 ball recoveries is a reasonable enough return given his lack of minutes this season, though his 53.1% duel success could arguably do with an improvement.
Casado has won 223 of his 420 attempted one-on-ones, but he has still lost 197, which, for a defensive midfielder, isn't good enough.
Winning those battles has to be his bread and butter, and in a much more physical Premier League, he could well struggle.
Poor disciplinary record
A 60.2% tackle success has Casado in the top bracket in the Barca squad, though he has conceded 82 fouls, which is the joint third-worst showing.
Only five players have more than his 109 disciplinary points over the past two seasons, coming as a result of eight yellow cards and one red.
Given his lack of minutes, one could reasonably argue that his rhythm in some games would therefore naturally be off, and with more regular matches, this part of his game should improve.
The same school of thought could also be applied regarding Casado's two errors leading to goals, which are, unfortunately, the joint most in the entire Barca squad.
Whether there are enough positive aspects to his overall game to get either Tottenham or West Ham to part with a sizeable chunk of their summer transfer kitty will only be seen at the end of the season.
One thing that absolutely isn't in doubt is his 100% effort and commitment, and for two Premier League clubs that have often lacked players with precisely that attitude, Casado could well fit right in.
To be a success, however, he'll need to show a little bit more than that.
