Introduction
The biggest game in club football is back and this time it promises to prove itself as a big decider in the La Liga title race. It is the arch rivals, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid who face off against each other later tonight, in a mouthwatering clash.
Competition/Round: 2020-21 La Liga, Match day 30
FC Barcelona Injuries & Doubts: Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho, Neto (out)
Real Madrid Injuries & Doubts: Sergio Ramos, Raphaël Varane, Dani Carvajal, Eden Hazard (out)
Date/Time: Saturday, April 10, 2021, 9pm CET (FC Barcelona), 12.30am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano, Madrid, Spain
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano
VAR: César Soto Grado
Recent Form
FC Barcelona registered a hard-fought win against Valladolid at the Camp Nou in Match day 29 of La Liga. Now they travel to Madrid to face arch rivals Real Madrid at the Estadio Alfredo De Stefano in what will be one of the biggest clasico’s in recent history. Also this one will go a long way into deciding the La Liga title challenge.
A great slip by league leaders Atletico Madrid has now paved way for the title race to now become three way as both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid FC are now back in the title race with only 3 points separating the top three.
Barcelona are presently second in the table 1 point behind the leaders and they will go on top if they win this ever-important fixture.
Real Madrid will go on level with cross town rivals Atletico Madrid if they win this one and will go on to the second position in the table.
Both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid come into this fixture in a great form. Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last 12 games in all competitions, which also includes a win over Liverpool. Meanwhile, FC Barcelona have gone 19 straight games without a loss in La Liga, winning 13 of their last 14 games.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
FC Barcelona (3-4-3): Ter Stegen; Araujo, De Jong, Lenglet; Dest, Busquets, Pedri, Alba; Messi, Dembélé, Griezmann
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Courtois; Vázquez, Militão, Nacho, Mendy; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius
Real Madrid will be missing a couple of important dressing room figures for this match. Most notably their defensive duo of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane will be missed. Meanwhile, Eden Hazard and Dani Carvajal continue to sit out with their Injuries.
FC Barcelona meanwhile have got a huge boost in their squad with Gerard Pique and Sergi Roberto both having raced against time to come back fully fit for this match. However they are unlikely to start.
Philippe Coutinho and Ansu Fati, who scored the only goal for FC Barcelona in the reverse fixture are side-lined for the match.
Lionel Messi meanwhile will be featuring in his record breaking 45th El Clasico. Sadly, this might be his final one.
The Los Blancos will look to make it a win of three el clasico’s in row, having won 2-0 at the Bernabeu last year and 3-1 at the Camp Nou.
Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona head-to-head (h2h) results
Real wins: 97
Draws: 52
FC Barcelona wins: 96
Last meeting: FC Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid (24/10/2020)
Players to watch out for
Lionel Messi: It goes without saying so as to how important he is for the blaugrana. He has gone few games without scoring in this fixture now. However, the onus will be on him to guide FC Barcelona to a victory and get the all-important three points in the bag.
Ter Stegen: He will be facing a mammoth task to stop the inform Benzema and Real Madrid front three. He has always risen up to the situation whenever demanded. This time also it’ll be demanded from him to continue his magnificent form and stop the Madrid players from scoring.
Ousmane Dembele: Scoring the winner against Valladolid, this guy is in the form of his life. His pace and form will be important for the blaugrana to pick up on the loose ends of Madrid and thrash them on the counter.
Karim Benzema: This man always steps up whenever the team needs him. He’ll be captaining the team in absence of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane. Consequently, he’ll look to hurt FC Barcelona again with his amazing skillset.
Thibaut Courtois: With an in-form attack of FC Barcelona to stop, Thibaut Courtois will have to show his besT game and stop all the attacks from the Catalan side.
Conclusion
The 279th edition of the El Clasico promises to be a treat to the eyes. Let us hope that the actual match does live up to its promise.
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Well written mi hermano…