Get ready for El Clasico!
Sunday evening will bring us the next heated match between Real Madrid – Barcelona, also widely known as El Clasico. Real leads the league with 20 wins and 66 points, followed by Sevilla (56 pts) and Barca (51 pts).
Real is coming off a strong performance in the Champions League with a thrilling 3-1 win over PSG which saw them advance to the Quarter-Finals. The last La Liga match saw them cruising to a 3-0 win over Mallorca with 2 goals from none other than Karim Benzema. The Frenchman has scored 5 of the last 6 goals for Los Blancos.
The Madrid side has won 4 of their last 5 La Liga matches, with the only setback being a 0-0 draw against Villareal at the start of February. Vinícius Júnior and Luka Modrić are having strong seasons with 15 goals and 13 assists between the two. Add Benzema’s 22 goals plus 11 assists (!) in La Liga alongside Casemiro’s defensive presence in midfield and it’s hard to see Real losing to Barca if the quartet is fit.
Barcelona has also lately shown good form – a direct result of a strong mid-winter transfer window. Xavi will rely on an experienced backline with Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba and Dani Alves. Piqué recorded his 600th appearance for the club in a match which saw Barca dominating Osasuna 4-0. The Catalans’ have managed to pull together an impressive attacking line-up with the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres, Ousmane Dembélé and Memphis Depay leading the charge.
Both sides have some injury concerns. Ansu Fati, Samuel Umtiti and Sergi Roberto are still out for Barca, whereas Real is mostly worried for Karim Benzema, who might have picked up an injury in the last La Liga match against Mallorca. Question-marks are also over Rodrygo and Ferland Mendy after they were also substituted in the last match.
The two sides have met a total of 281 times, with Real winning 104, drawing 62 and losing 115 times. In recent history, Real has managed to pull off 5 wins in a row, with their last defeat to Barca coming in March 2019. The last match in October ended with Real’s 2-1 win.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Real is the clear favorite ahead of Sunday’s clash. Bookies have Real’s win at 2.12, a draw at 3.75 and Barca’s win at 3.38. The most likely outcomes are 1-1, 1-0 or 2-1 to Real. Either way, prepare yourself for another heated El Clasico!
