An "El Clasico" for the La Liga championship

FC Barcelona welcomes their eternal rivals Real Madrid to the Nou Camp for the 287th edition of "El Clasico" . With a win, leaders Barca can ensure a small preliminary decision in the Primera Division. For their part, the second-placed Blancos want to close the gap to the leader. An extremely explosive starting position. 

The Blaugrana sit comfortably on the top of the table after 25 games and hold on 65 points and a goal difference of 47-8. Xavi Hernandez's side have the best goal difference of any La Liga club, second best attacking goals (behind Real) and by far the most stable defensive end in Spain with just 8 goals conceded. The Catalans go into the clash with Los Blancos with a whopping 9-point lead. If the home team wins, Barca would have a 12-point lead over the 'white ballet' with 12 rounds to go.

Are you new to our Betandyou blog? Well, check out our promotions!

Barca on the hunt for the La Liga trophy

However, the season so far has not gone quite as the blue-reds wanted. They are in the Copa del Rey in the final and in the league at the top. However, the Europa League loss to Manchester United (2-2 home, 1-2 away) is still on Barca's stomach. For the bursting of the European dream, the Catalans want to rehabilitate themselves as quickly as possible, preferably in front of their own audience in what is probably the most prestigious duel in football history worldwide.

A look at the latest results shows that Barca's engine hasn't always run stutter-free. After losing the Champions League against Man United, they showed nerves and lost 1-0 in the league away to relegation candidate Almeria. 

Most recently, the Catalans celebrated victories against Valencia and Bilbao, both games ended in a narrow 1-0 win . A big bright spot (and perhaps a small foretaste) was the 1-0 away win against Real Madrid in the Coppa Del Rey semi-finals, with which Barcelona at least kept the chance of a possible double.

One on whose shoulders hopes rest is Barcelona goalgetter Robert Lewandowski. Since arriving in Barcelona in the summer of 2022, the Pole has scored an incredible 31 points in a total of 32 games. In the league, the 34-year-old has scored 15 goals in 21 games, which puts him clearly at the top of the Spanish top scorers list. The fact that the Polish record international left the field without a goal in his last two games is almost a small lull given his qualities. 

The veteran is still without a goal against Real this year. He contributed an assist in the first leg but was hampered by a hamstring injury in the Copa del Rey. Helping his team to win against their arch-rivals in front of 90,000 is still missing in Lewandowski's glorious vita.

Barca coach Xavi Hernandez has almost the entire squad available against Los Blancos. Only Pedri is forced to take a break due to his muscle injury . No one is suspended at the Blaugrana either. Xavi's well-tried 4-3-3 will be practiced again against Real.

Can Real Madrid manage the increasing pressure?

Barcelona's opponent is called Real Madrid and only this week fixed promotion to the Champions League quarter-finals. Because they just flew out of the Coppa del Rey against Barca and lost the Supercoppa final, the only thing left for the royal team is the championship to win a national title. To stay close to leaders Barca, Real need a three-pointer at the Nou Camp . The Ancelotti team currently has 56 points, has the second best goal difference and the best offensive in the league. The gap to Barca can be reduced to six points with a win with 12 rounds to go.

In order to reduce the gap to the leader, Real must remember its virtues from the league first leg. Goals from Benzema, Valverde and Rodrygo saw Los Blancos beat their opponents 3-1 in the first leg of La Liga at the Bernabeu in a quite callous performance . In the Primera Division, the Spanish record champions have been unbeaten for five games. Most recently, they defeated Espanyol Barcelona 3-1 at home

Despite the dense program, Real mastered its previous game plan brilliantly. Whether La Liga, Coppa del Rey, Champions League or FIFA Club World Cup. Since the beginning of the year, the white ballet has played twenty games, which is probably the most of any club in the world. They already won the Club World Cup, in the Champions League they are one of the closest favorites alongside FC Bayern Munich. 

With a brilliant 6-2 overall score, they threw Liverpool FC out of the competition just this week and are now in the quarter-finals of the premier class. The collective of old and young was also decisive for the success against Liverpool. While Vinicius Jr., Valverde or shooting star Eduardo Camavinga caused a lot of wind, the old stars Toni Kroos and Luka Modric provided control. The energetic, always goal-hungry Karim Benzema ultimately scored Real's 1-0 winner last Wednesday.

At the age of 35, the Frenchman is once again the be-all and end-all of the Madrilenians' attack. The Frenchman has incredible scorer values ​​across all competitions. He has had 24 goals in 28 games so far and has been successful in each of the six competitions that Real have participated in this year. In the league, the veteran, who is playing his 14th season in the white jersey this year, has scored 11 goals in 15 games.

Carlo Ancelotti has almost every player available against Barcelona. Only Austrian defender David Alaba is still suffering from a thigh injury. It cannot currently be assumed whether it will be possible until Sunday. Alaba's position was last taken by Nacho Fernandez or Eder Militao, who filled the gap well. What is certain is that Ancelotti will also play against Barcelona in a 4-3-3 system . Camavinga, Modric and Kroos should steer the ship out of midfield, Benzema, Vini Jr and Valverde stir up the front - like last time against Liverpool - and keep the Barca defense busy.

Barcelona - Real Madrid: What to expect? 

FC Barcelona have scored 14 goals in their last 10 games. Real Madrid, on the other hand, have scored 18 goals. If we disregard the goal difference of both teams, which averaged 10.0, the teams averaged 3.2 goals per game. Therefore we recommend Under 3.5 goals or Over 2.5 goals as likely variants. On average, both teams have scored in 80% of the games. The probability based on the last games suggests that this time both teams can score.

Not that the "Clasico" isn't already one of the more explosive games in European club football. The rising duel on Sunday contains additional explosiveness. After all, for Barcelona it's about a small preliminary decision in the championship. With a defeat against Real, the Catalans would have to lose at least 4 times in the remaining 12 games to let Real come back. Unthinkable with a defense that has only allowed 8 goals in the current season. 

Real, on the other hand, is going full offensive and wants to make the title fight exciting again. It remains to be seen whether this will succeed in the Nou Camp in front of 90,000 hot-blooded Barca fans, especially if they can still feel the last Champions League game in their legs. 

Our prediction is: Barcelona will win and make a preliminary decision in the championship. But because Barca have been stingy with goals lately, we predict a game with Under 2.5 goals.

• Barcelona to win
• Under 2.5 goals

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.