Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Estadio Santiago Bernabeu forms the backdrop for the latest iteration of the famous El Clasico between eternal La Liga rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Real Madrid enjoyed a dream warm-up for this mouth-watering fixture as they overhauled a two-goal halftime deficit in a 5-2 demolition of Borussia Dortmund in midweek UEFA Champions League action. Carlo Ancelotti’s charges have taken a 1-0 defeat to Lille personally, winning three consecutive matches across all competitions since, including a 2-0 triumph against Villarreal in their most recent home league outing. That result forms part of Real Madrid’s perfect league start at the Bernabeu, with Los Blancos winning all four home matches by an aggregate score of 15-2! But despite heading into proceedings as the only La Liga side yet to lose a top-flight game this season (W7, D3), the reigning champions trail their table-topping visitors by three points, highlighting the importance of building on last season’s H2H league double.

Similarly to Real Madrid, Barcelona ran riot in their Champions League encounter against Bayern Munich, strolling to a 4-1 victory to make it four consecutive wins in all competitions. Hansi Flick has got his Barca tenure off to a flying La Liga start, overseeing nine wins in ten league matches (L1), including a 5-1 home thrashing of Sevilla last time out. Equally prolific on the road, Los Blaugranas have racked up an eye-catching average of 3.5 goals per game across their last four La Liga travels (W3, L1). Bringing the tail-end of the 2023/24 season into the equation, they have netted 2+ goals in each of their last ten away league matches. But two goals weren’t enough to avoid defeat in this corresponding fixture in 2023/24, as Barcelona slipped to a 3-2 defeat in April.