The biggest fixture in the calendar of world football returns this season as Real Madrid prepare to take on Barcelona in a top-of-the-table El Clasico affair at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday evening. Both the bitter rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona are on level on 22 points heading into this Clasico, but the latter top the La Liga table courtesy of their better goal difference of +19 compared to Real Madrid’s +12.
Last season, La Liga proved to be a walk in the park for Real Madrid who won the Spanish top-flight with more than a month to spare. The likes of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona were no match for Carlo Ancelotti’s side who eventually finished the season with a 13-point advantage over their Catalan nemesis. However, the signs are already present that this season’s title race will be closer and will probably be decided by a neck and neck competition between the two Spanish giants.
The defending Spanish champions have won seven and drawn one of their eight league matches this season to collect 22 points. However, it is still not enough to top the table as their recent 1-1 draw with Osasuna allowed the Catalans to jump to the top of the table on account of better goal difference. It is a strong indication of the level that will be required to finish at the summit in 2022-23.
They only dropped points, of course, came at home when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Osasuna in the first week of October. Vinicius Jr’s first-half goal got cancelled out by Kike Garcia’s 50th minute strike and despite several attempts, Madrid failed to restore their advantage.
However, they managed to return to winning ways in the league last weekend, recording a 1-0 victory over Getafe, before drawing 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Following the scrappy draw with Shakhtar, head coach Ancelotti admitted that he was disappointed with his side’s approach and display in the continental competition. With that being said, the lone point was enough for the defending European champions to secure a place in the Round of 16 stage of the UEFA Champions League with two matches to spare.
Real Madrid will play another five times before the end of the month, facing Barcelona, Elche, Sevilla and Girona in Spain’s top flight, in addition to a trip to Germany to take on RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Los Blancos have won four of their last five league games against Barcelona, they will not have fond memories of Barcelona’s last visit to the Santiago Bernabeu last season. On that occasion, Xavi’s side thumped Real Madrid 4-0 and handed them an embarrassing result in front of their own fans.
While Barcelona’s exuberant form in La Liga suggests that they are on the right track following their massive investment into the squad this summer, European success continues to elude them. After playing in the Europa League for the first time in nearly 15 years last season, it looks like they are set to return to the competition once again following demoralising results against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in their Champions League group.
Barcelona lost their star-studded affair with Bayern 2-0 in Munich and it was followed by a controversial 1-0 loss at the San Siro at the hands of Inter. While Xavi’s side did try their best to get themselves going in the latest group stage clash, defensive frailties became their undoing and they ended up settling for a 3-3 draw which gives Inter the upper hand to progress to the knockout stages. They only need to beat Viktoria Plzen at home next time out to ensure that they qualify for the knockout round alongside Bayern Munich.
The mood in Barcelona is grim right now after the mid-week disappointment against the Italian heavyweights with Xavi openly admitting that they weren’t good enough to compete in the Champions League this season and will now be focusing on La Liga instead, where they have a perfect win record following the opening day draw with Rayo Vallecano.
Xavi’s side have been victorious in each of their last seven league fixtures against Real Sociedad, Rayo Vallecano, Sevilla, Cadiz, Elche, Mallorca and Celta Vigo, and they have scored 20 goals and conceded just once during an excellent start to their domestic campaign.
Their wonderful clean sheet record of six consecutive games without conceding is surely set to be put to the test as the Catalans are still missing their best defenders and even though Jules Kounde has gotten the much-needed and desperate medical green light, questions remain on whether he will be fit to start.
Barcelona have not actually won La Liga since the 2018-19 campaign, which is incredible considering their recent success, and it might well be that their full focus goes on the league if they are unable to book their spot in the next round of the Champions League.
The league title will not be won or lost this weekend, but a victory for Barcelona will surely go a long way to uplift the morale of the supporters and players after a disappointing night in Europe. The last time they travelled to Madrid, Barcelona returned home with a flamboyant 4-0 success in yet another classic Clasico and with a much better squad this time around, they won’t see any reason why they can’t match or even better that result.
RMA vs BAR, La Liga 2022/23
Date: 16th October, 2022
Time: 7:45 PM IST
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
FORM GUIDE:
Real Madrid La Liga form:
- W-W-W-W-D-W
Real Madrid form (all competitions):
- W-W-D-W-W-D
Barcelona La Liga form:
- W-W-W-W-W-W
Barcelona form (all competitions):
- L-W-W-L-W-D
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
Real Madrid wins: 100
Draws: 52
Barcelona wins: 97
TEAM NEWS:
Real Madrid Team News:
Real Madrid will continue to miss the services of Dani Ceballos who hasn’t recovered from his hamstring injury. Meanwhile, number 1 goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was in a race against time to get fit for the Clasico but he has lost that battle and Andrey Lunin is expected to start between the posts in his place. Courtois’ absence could be a big loss for Madrid given how he has performed in big games lately.
Antonio Rudiger is fit despite suffering a nasty head injury when scoring his side’s leveller against Shakhtar in the Champions League but he may have to start from the bench with Eder Militao and David Alaba getting the nod in central defence instead.
Real Madrid will not be at full strength due to the absence of Courtois, but there are not expected to be any surprises in terms of the 10 outfield players, with Federico Valverde set to again feature off the right of a front three.
Real Madrid’s first-choice midfield of Luka Modric, Aurelien Tchouameni and Toni Kroos should take to the field to dictate matters in the middle of the park and make life difficult for Pedri and co.
Barcelona Team News:
In Barcelona, the big news ahead of their trip to Madrid is the recovery and medical green light of Jules Kounde. The French defender returns at the right time to offer some much needed respite to a makeshift backline which has suffered in his, Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen’s absence. The latter two continue to remain sidelined with Araujo ruled out of the FIFA World Cup after a surgery.
Kounde is expected to replace long-time Barcelona servant Gerard Pique who had a horror show against Inter in the mid-week and he should partner Eric Garcia at the heart of the defence.
There might be concerns surrounding the full-back department as well as Xavi will have to decide between starting Sergi Roberto on the right and playing Alejandro Balde in his usual position or pushing Balde to the right to deal with Vinicius’ pace and playing Marcos Alonso on the left instead.
Ansu Fati might get the nod over Raphinha to start alongside Ousmane Dembele and Robert Lewandowski in attack.
Frenkie de Jong is an option for change in the middle of midfield, but it seems likely that Sergio Busquets will again be joined by youngsters Gavi and Pedri in a midfield three.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Lunin; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Roberto, Kounde, E Garcia, Balde; Gavi, Busquets, Pedri; Dembele, Lewandowski, Fati
Predictions:
Real Madrid will have an extra day of recovery in their tanks going into the Clasico while Barcelona had to sweat it all out in an energy-sapping encounter with Inter on Wednesday night. Xavi’s side are difficult to back against in the league at the moment but they could be low on morale. Real Madrid will be also well aware of their concerns at the back and look to capitalise on them.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side are experts at digging deep and pushing the opponents to their breaking point. However, Barcelona continue to remain a threat with an in-form Robert Lewandowski leading the charge along with Ousmane Dembele. Results in the Clasico are hardly predictable and a win for either side as well as a draw are completely possible outcomes.
What can be said with certainty, however, is that Real Madrid will be desperate to avoid another humiliation like the one in the previous Clasico and are likely to double down on their defence if the going gets tough.
