Barcelona vs Real Madrid

Arlington’s AT&T Stadium forms the backdrop for a mouth-watering pre-season friendly between arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.

More than just bragging rights are on the cards here, especially after Barcelona dethroned Real Madrid in La Liga last season. Both sides won one league ‘El Clasico’ apiece in 2022/23, but ‘Los Merengues’ thrashed the Catalan powerhouse 4-1 on aggregate in the Copa del Rey semi-finals en route to lifting the title. Carlo Ancelotti’s men have been impressive in the United States thus far. After overhauling a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat AC Milan 3-2 in their first friendly in the States, ‘Los Merengues’ scored on either side of halftime in a comfortable 2-0 win over Manchester United. Those triumphs form part of Madrid’s five-match unbeaten run (W4, D1), suggesting they’ll take the field in high spirits.

In the meantime, Barcelona’s water-tight defense, which only conceded 20 goals in 38 league matches, provided the backbone for the Catalans’ first La Liga success since 2019. However, Xavi Hernandez’s men tucked themselves in a comfort zone at the tail-end of last season, leading to three defeats in their final four top-flight fixtures (W1). A 2-0 win over Japanese side Vissel Kobe in their opening off-season outing settled Xavi’s nerves before a thumping 5-3 defeat at the hands of Arsenal last time out derailed his confidence. Barcelona can draw inspiration from the fact they’ve won both summer friendlies against Madrid in the past six years, although both triumphs came by a single-goal margin.