Barça vs Madrid: Preview

Barça look to complete a dream week with a win in El Clásico

FC Barcelona (1st, 18pts) vs Real Madrid (8th, 14pts)*

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*Positions and points at the time of writing on Saturday

Competition/Round: 2018-19 La Liga, Matchday 10

Barcelona Outs and Doubts: Lionel Messi, Samuel Umtiti, Thomas Vermaelen, Sergi Samper, Carles Aleñá (out)

Real Madrid Outs and Doubts: Daniel Carvajal (out)

Date/Time: Sunday, October 28, 2018, 4.15pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 3.15pm BST (UK), 11.15am ET, 8.15am PT (USA), 8.45pm IST (India)

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez

How to watch on TV: beIN SPORTS (USA & Canada), Eleven Sports 1 (UK), SuperSport 7 (Nigeria), SONY TEN 2 (India), others

How to stream: beIN SPORTS CONNECT (USA & Canada), others

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El Clásico is here!!!! The best and most famous rivalry in the best and most famous sport in the world is renewed this Sunday at the greatest stadium in sports. Regardless of form, stars missing, coaches under pressure, this is a crazy good game to watch. It always has been, it always will be. Including on Sunday.

This will be the first Clásico without both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch for a very long time, but it’s still Barça vs Madrid. Catalonia vs. Capital. The two biggest clubs in the sport fighting for domestic and European supremacy. This has all the ingredients of a classic, and every game seems to be that in recent times.

This time, though, it’s a little bit hard to expect a true classic. Barça will be without the injured Messi, and Julen Lopetegui’s Real Madrid are just a mess. But we do know both teams will turn up and look to be at their absolute peak. We’ll find out who can reach it, and who can win the biggest of big games. Man, this will be fun!

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POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Rafinha, Suárez, Coutinho

Real Madrid (4-3-3): Courtois; Nacho, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Asensio

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PREDICTION

Barça looked good without Messi against Inter Milan, and they also beat Sevilla without 60 minutes of Leo. If they can replicate those performances against this strange Madrid team, they’ll win at home: 3-1 Barça.

Source: barcablaugranes.com