El Clasico: Barcelona Vs Real Madrid Preview

It’s the big one. La Liga’s biggest rivals face off once again as Barcelona host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on Sunday in the 272nd El Clasico.

The Messi/Ronaldo Clasico era may be over with Real’s record goalscorer now playing for Juventus and Barca’s star man missing out with a broken arm, but Sunday’s clash offers plenty of drama elsewhere.

Real’s miserable run of form in recent weeks – four losses in their last six games – looked set to cost Julen Lopetegui his job as coach, but Real have confirmed that the former Spain coach will be in charge for Sunday’s game at least.

As for La Liga champions Barca, Sunday’s match offers a glimpse of life without Messi. The Argentine has been in scintillating form this season, but Barca must learn how to win without their talisman after being bailed out by Messi a number of times already.

Both sides have been victorious in the Champions League this week, with Barcelona recording a 2-0 win over Inter Milan while Real defeated Viktoria Plzen 2-1 at Santiago Bernabeu.

Head to Head Statistics

Real Madrid

Games Played – 238
Matches Won – 95
Matches drew -50

Barcelona

Games Played – 238
Matches Won – 93
Matches drew -50

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

The host have lost a crucial player, a player whose creativity, decision-making, style of play and pace can make the opponents game plan redundant, that player is Lionel Messi.

The little Argentine, with no shadow of doubt, will be missed by the Blaugrana but they’ve shown in the UEFA Champions League after beating Inter Milan 2-0 that they can grind results against opponents.

Rafinha Alcantara filled in the void of Messi and scored. Ernesto Valverde’s men will go into the game full of confidence after recording victories against Sevilla and Inter Milan.

The visitors will also be booted confidently following their Champions League triumph over Viktoria Plzeň. However, as stated earlier, the Los Blancos have struggled with the clear difficulty being the impotency in front of goal as well as the frailty of the defence.

They have scored once in their previous four as it is a clear manifestation that they are missing their talisman who is enduring a wonderful campaign with the Biaconeri in Italy.

Barcelona have shown they can put the ball into the back of the net without Messi as they proved it over their two previous fixtures, scoring four goals.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, have again struggled to score coupled with difficultness in keeping clean sheets. The dicey encounter will be decided and eventually won by the side who will be stout in defence.

PREDICTION

2-0