Barcelona v Real Madrid Match Preview

The Biggest game outside of the Premier League this weekend has to be the massive La Liga clash between Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. El Clasico is one of the most watched matches on the football calendar and sees some of the greatest players in the world face off against each other. Real and Barca lie 1st and 2nd in La Liga respectively and Real will be looking for revenge after losing 2-0 at the Nou Camp and 6-2 at the Bernabeu last season, with the latter result being one of their worst ever defeats to their rivals.

Barcelona go into Sunday’s fixture on the back of a disappointing 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao, in a match in which Argentina star Messi came off with a slight knock and his loss would be a big blow for Barca. The Catalan giants are still unbeaten this season though and despite being behind Real in the table, Barcelona are still largely thought of as the best team in the league. Under Pep Guardiola the La Liga champions are a force to be reckoned with, and if they are able to control the game for large periods it will go a long way to deciding the result.

Real Madrid have one of the most expensive squads in world football and despite having made their best start to a season for many years, manager Manuel Pellegrini is still not completely safe in his job. The results have been achieved but some fans have been disappointed by the performances given by a team containing some of the world’s best players in Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo amongst others. An uninspiring 1-0 win against Racing Santander in their last match drew some criticism, but with the quality that Real have in their team they are able to hurt Barcelona on the break and the derby should be a cracking match.