Barcelona’s early exit from the Europa League means they’ve had a whole week to prepare for El Clasico, unlike visitors Real, who had a Champions League round-of-16 clash against Liverpool on Wednesday.
Xavi’s outfit will no doubt have used that extra time wisely, as they seek another win over their bitter rivals, who they have already defeated in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final and the Spanish Super Cup final.
In the league, Barca are on a run of back-to-back 1-0 victories, struggling at times to find the attacking fluency we are more accustomed to, but defending stoutly at the other end.
They also kept a third clean sheet came against Real in the Copa del Rey, while they have still conceded just once in 12 unbeaten home league games, ten of which have ended in victory.
The Catalan outfit will be well fancied to get another win here, especially as Ronald Araujo returns from suspension to bolster the back four.
If Real Madrid are to have any chance of retaining the La Liga title, this is a must win game for them, as they currently trail Barca by nine points.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side have looked laboured recently, with that defeat to Barca also accompanied by stalemates with Atletico Madrid (1-1) and Real Betis (0-0), the latter of which was away from home.
They did beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Champions League in midweek, and it remains to be seen how the likes of Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos recover from that victory.
A more pressing concern though is the fact Real have lost three of their last four games against Barca, while each of their three league defeats this season have come on the road.
Culled from Freesupertips.com
