Spain Round 11

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Real Madrid vs Barcelona Preview:

Possible starting lineups:

Real Madrid:
Lunin; Vazquez, Militao, Rudiger, Mendy; Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga; Bellingham; Vinicius, Mbappe

Barcelona:
Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Balde; Casado, Pedri; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Lewandowski

Real Madrid will welcome Barcelona to Santiago Bernabeu in El Clasico. This is a derby with great history, their rivalry between is regarded as one of the biggest on the planet. Madrid and Barcelona are Spain's largest cities and they are sometimes identified with opposing political positions. Real Madrid are viewed as representing Spanish nationalism and Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan nationalism. The two clubs are among the richest and most successful football clubs in the World; in 2014 Forbes ranked them the World's two most valuable sports teams. Both clubs have a global fan base; they are the two most followed sports teams on social media. Lionel Messi is the leading all time goal scorer in El Clasico with 26 goals, Alfredo Di Stefano has 18, while Cristiano Ronaldo 17. Now about the match.

Real Madrid have 24 points, three less than Barcelona. That is why this match is very important for Ancelotti and his players. They are in excellent form at the moment, while the players confidence is "High as Everest" after the last success. On Tuesday they beat Borussia Dortmund with 5:2 in the Champions League to secure important three points in the competition. Goals from Donyell Malen and Jamie Gittens gave Dortmund a comfortable lead at half-time. However, the hosts responded with five goals in the second half. Antonio Rudiger and Vinicius Junior leveled the result before the captain Lucas Vazquez made it 3:2 in the 83rd minute. Vinicius then scored two late goals for the final 5:2. But not everything was positive on that match. Thibaut Courtois and Rodrygo suffered injuries and both are ruled out for the next three weeks. Their absence is a huge handicap for Ancelotti. David Alaba and Dani Carvajal remain long-term injury victims.

Barcelona have nine victories after the opening 10 rounds of La Liga. The only defeat was registered against Osasuna in September. The Catalans look very strong this season. They have scored 33 league goals, 12 more than Real Madrid. The results in Europa are not at desired level, Barca have already suffered one defeat when they lost to Monaco. However, this week was very successful, Barcelona registered a high 4:1 win against Bayern Munich. The key player on that match was Raphinha who scored a hat-trick. The atmosphere in the squad is excellent, while the players confidence is very high. German coach Hansi Flick is doing an excellent job and the fans are satisfied. Flick has no new injury issues, but Ronald Araujo, Ferran Torres, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen remain out injured, only Eric Garcia could be back in the squad. On the positive note, Frenkie de Jong, Dani Olmo and Gavi are all back to full fitness.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona Prediction:

Real Madrid are favorites, mainly due to the home advantage. But there is more, Real have not been beaten in league action since 25 September 2023, when they lost 3:1 to city rivals Atletico. Their unbeaten run in La Liga now stands at 42 matches, with 31 wins and 11 draws in that span. Still, it is hard to predict who will win this derby, particularly because both teams are coming from big victories in the Champions League. As I wrote above, Real Madrid won 5:2 against Borussia Dortmund, while Barcelona won 4:1 against Bayern Munich. The players confidence is very high in both teams. I believe this will be an open match with lot of goals. Last season Real won 3:2 at Bernabeu in April, before that won 3:1 (October 2022). At least four goals could be scored again.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona Pick: Over 3.5 goals @ 2.01 with Pinnacle