The La Liga season, much like the rest of the top five leagues, has started in a bizarre, rollercoaster fashion, as Real Sociedad sit atop the table, level on points with Villarreal.
Of the big two, Barcelona sit lower in the table with just seven points out of a possible 12. The Catalan giants dropped points against Sevilla in gameweek three after a 1-1 draw and then fell to defeat against Getafe last weekend.
Like their rivals for tomorrow, Real Madrid, too, are underway a massive squad rebuild, with club legend Zinedine Zidane at the helm.
Real Madrid come into the El Clasico on the back of back-to-back defeats against newly-promoted Cadiz, and then Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.
When is the Match between Barcelona and Real Madrid ?
The match will take place at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
Kick Off Time in Indian Standard Time (IST)
The match will start 7.30 PM IST. It will be played behind closed door due to the current guidelines regarding Covid-19.
Team News & Tactics
Barcelona
Ronald Koeman’s side will be boosted by the presence of Jordi Alba in the match squad. The Spaniard came off against Sevilla after a hamstring injury and was ruled out indefinitely. However, the squad is still missing first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and World Cup winner Samuel Umtiti. Konrad de la Fuente, too, has been excluded from the squad because of a technical decision.
Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Neto; Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Busquets, de Jong; Griezmann, Coutinho, Fati; Messi
Real Madrid
Unlike his rivals tomorrow, Zinedine Zidane will have to cater to numerous injuries in the squad, with Mariano Diaz, Martin Ødegaard, Alvaro Odriozola, and Eden Hazard ruled out of action. Sergio Ramos, who was subbed off against Cadiz due to injury and missed the midweek fixture, has been named in the squad, with Zidane confirming his presence in the starting XI.
Predicted Lineup (4-3-3): Courtois; Mendy, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Valverde, Casemiro, Modric; Isco, Benzema, Vinicius
Barcelona vs Real Madrid Head-to-Head and Results
Real Madrid and Barcelona have recorded 96 victories apiece from a total of 244 games and will want to edge ahead in this fixture.
The previous La Liga meeting between these two sides ended in a 2-0 victory for Real Madrid, with Vinicius Junior and Mariano Diaz getting on to the scoresheet.
Key Stats
Barcelona and Real Madrid have faced each other 180 times in the La Liga, with the latter just edging the former with 73 wins to the former’s 72.
Only 35 El Clasico have ended in a draw in the history of the two clubs, which equals to less than 20% of the total encounters.
The last meeting between the two sides at the Camp Nou ended in a 0-0 draw, the first goalless draw since November 2002.
Zinedine Zidane is unbeaten in his five managerial games at the Camp Nou in all competitions (w2 D3) and is the first Madrid manager to do so.
In the last ten meetings between the two in the league, Barcelona have won five games (D3 L2), scoring 20 goals, while conceding just 10.
