Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Preview and Prediction

Barcelona vs Real Madrid
Spanish La Liga
Date: Saturday, 3rd December 2016,
Kick-Off at 15:15 UK
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona.

The two Spanish football giants FC Barcelona and Real Madrid lock horns in the first El Clasico Derby of the 2016/17 season. As often the case is, the teams occupy position 1 and 2 in the league table making it a key clash in the title decider once again.

Real Madrid sit at the top of La Liga with 33 points, with 10 wins and 3 draws from their 13 matches. They are the only undefeated side in the Spanish League at this point of the season. While Barcelona are 6 points behind their arch rivals. They picked up 8 wins and 3 draws from their 13, tasting defeats twice. One of the defeats were inflicted by the newly promoted Alaves in the opening month of the season, while the second was at Celta Vigo.

Barcelona were held to back-to-back draws, 0-0 at home by Malaga followed by a 1-1 draw at Sociedad last weekend. They are way behind their usual best, but the main worry for head-coach Luis Enrique will be the goal-scoring form. The Blaugrana have managed just 4 goals from their last 4 league games.

Zinedine Zidane’s side are one of the most effective sides and have picked up 6 straight victories. Their overall gameplay may not be pretty, but scored 20 goals in the last 6. The good news for Los Blancos is the goal-scoring form of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese striker has netted 8 goals in the last 4 matches which includes 2 hat-tricks.

Barcelona: Team News

Andres Iniesta has recovered from an injury that kept him out since the start of the season. However, there are still concerns over his match fitness, but is expected to play some part in the game.

There are plenty of problems in defense as Gerard Pique is a major doubt after the knock he picked up during the 1-1 draw at Sociedad. He is joined by Jordi Alba, Samuel Umtiti and Jeremy Mathieu with fitness issues.

Barcelona: Expected Starting Line-up

Ter Stegen – Alba, Mathieu, Mascherano, Robero – Arda, Rakitic, Busquests – Messi, Suarez, Neymar.

Real Madrid: Team News

Zinedine Zidane will be without the services of Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Raphael Varane in the trip to Camp Nou. While Casemiro is close to full fitness, but he is unlike to walk straight into the starting line-up. We are expected to see a similar eleven that started in the 2-1 home win against Sporting Gijon a week ago.

Real Madrid: Expected Starting Line-up (4-4-2)

Navas – Marcelo, Pepe, Ramos, Carvajal – Modric, Kovacic – Ronaldo, Isco, Vazques – Benzema.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Head-to-head stats

Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 in the first El-Clasico of 2015/16 season at the Santiago Bernabeu. But Madrid finally had their revenge by claiming a 2-1 win in the return leg at Camp Nou on March 2016.

The teams hare 4 wins each in the last 8 matches in all competitions. Both teams were able to get into to score-sheet in 7 matches during the period. And all those 8 matches have seen 3 or more goals.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Prediction

The form guide slightly favours Real Madrid to get a win in this fixture, which is also strengthened by the injury crisis in Barcelona squad. But betting on full-time result has to be approached with caution as we believe derbies are very unpredictable. The closest full-time score we arrived based on our statistical prediction algorithm is 2-2. We recommend to use a very small percentage of your stake on the same.

However, based on the head-to-head stats the best pick for this match is ‘both teams to score and over 2.5 goals’. There are 7 matches from last 8 which have resulted in the same.

Predicted Full-Time Score is a 2-2 draw at 11/1 (12.00).