Real Madrid vs Barcelona Preview: Most anticipated El Clasico in years
It’s safe to say that the first instalment of El Clasico this season between Real Madrid and Barcelona is one of the most highly anticipated of recent times.
With both sides finding serious form ahead of the meeting, fireworks will be expected as the league-leading Catalan giants travel to the Spanish capital.
Under new manager Hansi Flick Barca have flourished to win nine of their 10league fixtures so farthis season, but Carlo Ancelotti and his Real outfit will be keen to halt their impressive start here.
Los Blancos hold the recent edge in this fixture, winning each of the last four competitive meetings between the sides, whilst their 5-2 comeback Champions League win against Borussia Dortmund in midweek will have further raised confidence levels.
But Barca also claimed a huge European victory on Wednesday as they routinely beat Bayern Munich 4-1 and, due to that, the away side will be in sky-high spirits as they look to win a La Liga fixture at the Bernabeu against their great rivals for the first time since a 4-0 success in March 2022.
Tip 1 - Draw @ 29/10
With just one La Liga loss between the two sides heading into this weekend, this latest clash between Real and Barca is expected to be a close fought one.
Both sides will be desperate not to lose to their fiercest rivals and, as such, a closely-fought affair seems the most likely outcome.
That’s something that’s been commonplace amongst recent La Liga meetings between these two giants of Spanish football, with each of the last three such matches being won by a one-goal margin.
The last two of those have fallen in favour of Real, but with the Blaugrana heading into this match as the more in-form outfit, the home side’s advantage could be cancelled out here.
Tip 2 - Over 3.5 goals scored @ 21/10
A glance at recent meetings between Real and Barca highlights that a major trend has been the two sides' high level of goalscoring.
Each of their last two matches have seen the two outfits combined to score exactly five goals, and with seven of the last 10 clashes witnessing over 3.5 goals netted in total, another high-scoring affair wouldn’t surprise here.
On top of that, the visitors in particular have found goalscoring quite easy to come by of late, scoring 33 goals across their opening 10 league outings this campaign - the most of any side in Europe’s top five leagues.
By the same measure, Carlo Ancelotti’s side still sit fourth on that overall list and have recorded the third-highest xG total of any top five European league side, behind only Barca and PSG.
Tip 3 - Raphinha to score first @ 7/1
During Barcelona’s midweek Champions League match-up with Bayern Munich, it was Brazilian winger Raphinha who stole the show.
In the first minute of play during his side’s emphatic 4-1 victory over the German side, he opened the scoring, before going on to add another two strikes to his name to complete a sensational hat-trick.
At present the 27-year-old is performing at the highest level of his career, netting nine goals across his 13 competitive club matches, while amazingly also adding eight assists on top of that tally.
He arrives in the Spanish capital full of confidence as a result and may well be able to finally break his seven-match scoring duck against Los Blancos.