Once again, The biggest rivalry in club football is upon us. We're truly fortunate to witness FIVE clasicos this season across three competitions. The scoreline reads
3-1 in favour of Barcelona already, it's the second leg of the Copa del Rey Semi finals, a game that'll decide who faces Osasuna in the final at La Cartuja, Seville. As if both teams didn't have enough reason to win this game already.
Barcelona have had the upper hand in recent times, coming on top in the first leg at the Bernabeu by a slender 1-0 win, followed by a 2-1 win at the Camp Nou in La Liga which saw them move 12 points clear of Real Madrid in second place.
Both teams recorded impressive wins at the weekend going into this game: Barça saw off Elche in a 4-0 thrashing while Real Madrid thumped Real Valladolid 6-0. Positive feeling all around. And now they're both back at the Camp Nou. Who moves on and who gives in?
INTERESTING STATS
- Real Madrid have won 101 while Barcelona have won 100 out of the 253 matches played between the two teams.
- Real Madrid have lost their last three matches against Barcelona, all three defeats have come in 2023.
- Los Blancos have already lost three of their 11 matches in La Liga in 2023. They had suffered just four defeats in the entire 2022.
- Barcelona are on a five-match winning streak in all competitions.
- The Catalan giants have won five out of their last six matches against Real Madrid in all competitions.
TEAM NEWS
Barcelona
The Catalans will still have to make do without Ousmane Dembele, Pedri, Andreas Christensen and now, Frenkie DeJong. It makes the job a bit more difficult, but not impossible.
The team basically picks itself, sort of. Marc Andre TerStegen in goal, Araujo, Koundé, Alonso and Balde in defense. Things get interesting from there. If it's a four-man midfield, we should see Gavi, Busquets, Kessie and Roberto. A three-man midfield will sacrifice one of the latter two for Ansu Fati, while Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha round up the attack.
Real Madrid
Ferland Mendy is ruled out with another injury relapse, while Antonio Rudiger remains a doubt, even though he made the squad list. Ancelotti will want to pull up a surprise in his starting XI and tactics, given how he's been dominated in the last 3 clasicos.
Courtois, Militao and Alaba are sure to start. The fullback positions will be filled by two of Carvajal, Vasquez, Camavinga and Nacho. Modric, Kroos, Tchouameni and Valverde will likely make the starting XI.
After a sublime hattrick in the weekend, Benzema is sure to line up alongside Vinicius Jr. Marco Asensio and Rodrygo have made strong cases to start as well.
Where and when are Barcelona vs Real Madrid playing?
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Stadium: Camp Nou
Date: Wednesday 5 April
Kick-off Time: 20:00 BST / 15:00 EST / 12:00 PST
Referee: Juan Martínez Munuera
VAR: Jose Luis González González
As with other versions of the ever grand El Clasico, this game is too close to call. One thing that's for sure: maximum entertainment. It's the last Clasico of the season. Hopefully it'll be the best one yet.
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