The two Spanish giants sit at the top of the table and a win for either will almost seal the title
Futbol Club Barcelona and Real Madrid Club de Futbol go head to head tonight in this season’s second El Clasico. The match will be played in Madrid, at Real’s home Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid currently sit on second in the table with 53 points from 25 games. Barcelona are leading with 55 points from the same number of games. A win for the Los Blancos would put them on the top, one point ahead of their arch-rival. However, if Barca wins, they will be five points clear at the top.
Where do Madrid stand?
Real Madrid are going through a bad patch right now. In their last five matches, they have won only one, against Osasuna in La Liga. In the other two league matches during the period, they drew 2-2 to relegation-threatened Celta Vigo and lost 1-0 to Levante. They dropped 5 points in the league, which led to Barcelona overtaking them. In the cup tournaments, they lost to Real Sociedad in Copa del Rey quarter-final, and again to Manchester City midweek in Champions League Round of 16 first leg at home.
Understandably, morals would be low in the Madrid dressing room. Although Madrid has a well-organized midfield full of players who play on top every game, their forwards have been worrisome. Luka Jovic has not impressed anyone. Vinicius Junior is good in dribbling past defenders to cut into the box, but his shooting is not accurate. Gareth Bale does not perform in most of the matches. In such a situation, the duty to score lies mostly on 32-years-old Karim Benzema. Although the veteran Frenchman had been his team’s leading goalscorer, he has unimpressed recently, making fans furious. Zidane is forced to play Isco upfront, which is not the Spaniard’s natural position. However, one cannot write Benzema off considering his amazing record against Barcelona.
Where do Barcelona stand
Barcelona come to this match in a relatively better form. They have won their last three league games. Like Real Madrid, they lost in Copa del Rey quarter-finals to Atheltic Bilbao. In Champions League, they managed to salvage a hard-fought draw against an inspired Napoli side away from home.
The Catalans have serious troubles in midfield. Busquets is inconsistent, Rakitic does not impress, Arthur has not been at his best since returning from a groin injury, Vidal is not a kind of player who creates chances. Only Frenki De Jong provides some life in the midfield. Their defence is worse, with both Lenglet and Umtiti committing errors. A lot of goals were conceded because the defence had been caught sleeping by the opposition. However, Messi and Griezmann are back to goals, and new forward Braithwaite has impressed. So, we might expect to see them on the scoresheet.
Injury updates
Barcelona- Ousmane Dembele, Luis Suarez, Sergi Roberto
Real Madrid- Eden Hazard, Marco Asensio, Mariano Diaz
Possible line-ups
Real Madrid- Thibaut Courtois, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Forlan Mendy, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric, Isco, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale(4-3-3)
Barcelona- Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Nelson Semedo, Clement Lenglet, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Frenkie De Jong, Sergio Busquets, Arthur, Lionel Messi, Martin Braithwaite, Antione Griezmann (4-3-3).
