El Clasico Preview, Betting Tips and Odds
It’s the most watched match in the history of the sport. When these two footballing juggernauts met at the Santiago Bernabeu last season, it was reported that there were spectators from 185 countries around the globe tuning in as an inspired and bloodied Lionel Messi snatched a late winner for Barcelona against Real Madrid. When it comes to El Clasico there are no other fixtures that can compare as a spectacle than the annual tussles between two sides who are not only the biggest clubs domestically, but also as a pair, these are the leading powerhouses in world football.
This weekend, these two historic rivals will do battle once more in a fixture that pits some of the most talented players on the planet against each other and tends to provide a hefty clue as to where the La Liga title could be heading at the end of the season. For now though, sit back and let Betsafe take you through everything you need to know ahead the best Christmas present any football fan could ask for.
El Classico context
It’s the most watched match in the history of the sport. When these two footballing juggernauts met at the Santiago Bernabeu last season, it was reported that there were spectators from 185 countries around the globe tuning in as an inspired and bloodied Lionel Messi snatched a late winner for Barcelona against Real Madrid.
When it comes to El Clasico there are no other fixtures that can compare as a spectacle than the annual tussles between two sides who are not only the biggest clubs domestically, but also as a pair, these are the leading powerhouses in world football.
This weekend, these two historic rivals will do battle once more in a fixture that pits some of the most talented players on the planet against each other and tends to provide a hefty clue as to where the La Liga title could be heading at the end of the season. For now though, sit back and let Betsafe take you through everything you need to know ahead the best Christmas present any football fan could ask for.
Trying to find the root cause of the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona has something of an Alice down the rabbit hole feel to it. The animosity between the two has its layers in cultural, political and sporting disparities.
What it is best known for however, is the exhibition of the some of the greatest footballers to have ever played the sport lining up against each other. Mercurial talents such as Zinedine Zidane, Michael Laudrup, Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona are just a few names amongst a stellar cast to have left their mark on this fixture; although the last decade has been dominated by two players in particular.
Such are the exceptional abilities of Barça’s Lionel Messi and Los Blancos’ Cristiano Ronaldo, any meeting between the pair consumes much of the pretext behind any individual Clasico.
Undoubtedly two of the most gifted players either past or present, Messi has scored more goals in this fixture than any of his illustrious predecessors. The Portuguese Ronaldo however, is fresh off the back of picking up his fifth Ballon d’Or – bringing him level with his Argentine counterpart with the pair having won the last ten between them.
Real Madrid v Barcelona Price Boosts
- Ronaldo Or Messi To Score First 11/5
- Isco To Give An Assist 11/4
- Send Off In Match 7/4
Following the Catalan independence referendum in October, the latest El Clasico will undoubtedly be cast under the magnifying glass for any mounting political narrative, but this is a fixture that tends to do its talking on the pitch with the final result usurping any incidents that have gone on before – such as a gentle prod in the eyeball from Jose Mourinho and a pigs’ head being launched at Luis Figo.
When Real Madrid and Barcelona met in the Spanish Super Cup to raise the curtains on a new La Liga season, few could have predicted that Los Cules – the Barcelona supporters – would be heading into this clash with such confidence.
Over two legs, Real ran out 5-1 winners, defeating their fiercest rivals both home and away amongst the furore of Neymar’s move away from the Camp Nou.
Yet, as we head into the first league meeting, it’s Barça who have assumed pole position and sit some eleven points ahead of Zidane’s side.
Ernesto Valverde’s could end the year with a momentous 14-point gap from the reigning champions. Make no mistake, this match is as big as any that have gone before it.
A virtuoso performance from Messi saw Barça grab all three points on their last visit to the Bernabeu in April. The 30 year-old had been on the sharp end of a stray elbow from Los Blancos’ Marcelo which saw Messi bruised, bloodied, but not defeated. The Argentine abruptly ended a dour run of six Clasico’s without a goal when he levelled the scores by placing a shot just out of the reach of Keylor Navas and then in the dying embers of the game, scored for the 500th time in his illustrious Barcelona career to win one of the most exciting derbies in recent times.
Real began the season in atypically sluggish fashion, drawing two of their opening three league games before back-to-back defeats to Tottenham in the Champions League and La Liga newcomers Girona. Madrid have added a second piece of silverware to this season’s collection though, following a win over Gremio in the FIFA Club World Cup this month and Zidane’s side are on a run of four straight wins – which has seen Ronaldo rediscover his scoring touch with five goals in each of these victories. Los Blancos will need to maintain this good form and then some if they are to keep within touching distance of Barça’s coat tails, or face the ignominy of seeing their two greatest rivals – Atletico Madrid and Barcelona – battle it out for the La Liga title. If one thing is certain however, is that this will be one for the ages.
El Classico key stats
- Cristiano Ronaldo has scored five goals in his last four matches, this after scoring just once in eight La Liga games.
- Between January 2012 and October 2012, Ronaldo scored a record seven goals in six consecutive Clasico’s.
- There has been a red card in four of the last six Clasico’s.
- Two of those dismissals have been Sergio Ramos – who has been sent off in five matches altogether against Barça.
- Ramos has four El Clasico goals, one behind the record scorer for a defender Ronald Koeman with 5.
- Lionel Messi has had a hand in 20 of Barcelona’s 42 La Liga goals (14 goals and six assists) in 16 games.
- Both sides have scored in 12 of the last 13 La Liga games between the two rivals.
- Ernesto Valverde won three consecutive games against Real Madrid as manager of Athletic Bilbao between 2004-05.
- However, Valverde has lost the last six meetings with Los Blancos in a row.
- Paulinho has six goals following his transfer from Guangzhou Evergrande. The former Spurs man is the most prolific midfielder in La Liga.
- Despite only featuring in six league games since his summer move from Betis, Madrid have not lost in the 13 matches Dani Ceballos has played.
