Barcelona and Real Madrid face off for the fourth time this season on Sunday, in a game that may determine the destiny of the title race in La Liga.
A win for Barcelona would all but seal the league for the Catalans, as they’d then lead their great rivals by seven points with only three games to play. Barca have certainly been the more impressive of the two teams this term, but they head into this match after a gruelling fortnight.
Having edged out Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final in extra time only two weekends ago, they went the distance again in midweek, losing 4-3 on the night, and 7-6 on aggregate against Inter who were backed to progress on MFT.
Los Blancos will be hoping to take advantage of any fatigue in the home camp here. Carlo Ancelotti’s men have had a full week to prepare for this game, following a 3-2 victory over Celta Vigo. That was their seventh win in eight league games, but some significant defensive cracks have been evident during that run which Barca will be looking to exploit.
How the bookies view it: Barca favoured to triumph again
Barcelona are the 4/5 favourites with BoyleSports to win this match and set up the opportunity to win La Liga at the home of their local rivals Espanyol this coming Thursday. The same bookmaker also has Real Madrid on offer at 23/10 here, while the draw is priced at 3/1.
Recent head-to-head: Flick’s men have the edge
Hansi Flick has enjoyed a triple dose of success in El Clasico since taking over from Xavi. He led Barcelona to a 4-0 league win at the Bernabeu back in October. Barca have also tasted Supercopa and Copa del Rey final victories over their great rivals since then, with 5-2 and 3-2 margins of victory.
Players to watch: Lewandowski and Mbappe eyeing up the Pichichi
This is a game that doesn’t really need any subplots, but it has one with Robert Lewandowski currently only one goal ahead of Kylian Mbappe in the race for the prestigious Pichichi Trophy. The Barca frontman has been sidelined in recent weeks, but he returned from injury off the bench at San Siro on Tuesday, and could start this game.
Predicted Lineups
Jules Kounde is the main absentee for Barcelona, with Eric Garcia set to continue at right-back. Alejandro Balde is training again and could feature on Sunday, but Gerard Martin may still start at left-back.
As for the visitors, little has changed on the selection front since last weekend, with Arda Guler likely to keep his place ahead of Rodrygo. David Alaba, Ferland Mendy, Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Eduardo Camavinga and Antonio Rudiger are out injured.
Barcelona: Szczesny, Martin, Martinez, Cubarsi, E. Garcia, De Jong, Pedri, Raphinha, Olmo, Yamal, Lewandowski.
Real Madrid: Courtois, F. Garcia, Asencio, Tchouameni, Vazquez, Ceballos, Valverde, Bellingham, Guler, Vinicius, Mbappe.
Anything else catch the eye?
Things really boiled over when these sides met in Seville a fortnight ago, with three red cards produced for Real Madrid players in the dying moments of the game. The stakes are very high again here, and the bad blood could spill over which makes Bet365’s odds of 11/4 for there to be a sending off in the game look appealing.
Real Madrid came on strong after the interval in the Copa del Rey final, and they will fancy their chances of doing likewise here against what could be a tired Barca side. That makes Real Madrid look good at 9/4 with William Hill in the second-half-result market.
You can also back there to be over 3.5 total goals at 4/5 with BoyleSports, a winning bet in all of the last five competitive meetings between the clubs.
This La Liga match between Barcelona and Real Madrid will be played on and kick off at 15:15. Check below for our tipsters best Barcelona vs Real Madrid prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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