Neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid sit at the top of La Liga after six matchdays. With both sides chasing surprise leaders Real Sociedad, a loss for either team would seriously dent title aspirations.
Real Madrid head into the derby with rumours of Zinedine Zidane being replaced unless the team win. Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is tipped to take over unless things change quickly.
Barcelona are winless in their last two La Liga games. They drew 1-1 with Sevilla at home before falling to a late goal away to Getafe, losing 1-0. Ronald Koeman’s team are just four points off of first place, however. Barcelona also have a game in hand.
Although the Blaugrana claimed a 5-1 win in midweek in the Champions League versus Ferencvaros, they do not go into the game in La Liga in form. Their win versus the Hungarians was expected. The loss to Getafe a week ago was not.
Real Madrid go it El Clasico on the back of two straight losses. They fell to Cadiz, 1-0, in a shock result on matchday 5. The loss was more of a shock than Barcelona’s away defeat at Getafe.
Los Blancos followed up the defeat with another shock loss. This time they fell 3-2 to Shakhtar Donetsk at home in the Champions League. The Ukrainians were up 3-0 by halftime.
Zidane’s team did take four points from six possible last season against Barcelona. After a nil-nil draw at Camp Nou, Real Madrid won at home 2-0 thanks to goals from Vinicius Junior and Mariano Diaz.
Real Madrid go into the game with injuries. Eden Hazard remains on the sidelines and won’t play. Dani Carvajal joins Hazard on the sidelines as does Diaz. Sergio Ramos could miss the game as well.
Koeman is without first-choice goalkeeper Andre-Marc Ter Stegen. Neto will remain in goal for the time being. Centre-back Samuel Umtiti is ruled out with a knee injury while full-back Jordi Alba could return to the team in time to make the bench.
The Barcelona manager will hope that Lionel Messi’s midweek goal spurs him on in front of net. Messi has scored just once in 360 minutes of La Liga football. He has not created a goal yet.
The team have relied on Ansu Fati, who has three goals. However, he hasn’t scored in the league since matchday 2.
With both teams looking for form, Saturday’s game should see both attack. After years of big spending and relying on megastar players, it feels like Barcelona and Real Madrid have crashed back to Earth.
Expect another draw between these teams but rather than a bore nil-nil, goals should be scored. Barcelona and Real Madrid should combine for over 2.5 goals as the game finishes in a draw.