Real travel to Camp Nou for the 2nd El Clásico of the season.
It’s finally time for the first El Clásico of 2018. With Real Madrid holding their heads high after moving on to the Champions League Final, they will travel to the Camp Nou for the final El Clásico of this season. The first El Clásico of the season saw Real lose 3-0 to Barcelona at the Bernabéu. With just 3 matches remaining after El Clásico, the league table is starting to be finalized.
Barcelona were already crowned La Liga champions last weekend, but Zinedine Zidanedoesn’t plan to give them the guard of honor prior to the start of tomorrow’s match. Real sit 3rd in the league table, now 4 points behind Atlético and 4 points ahead of Valencia. The real achievement for Los Blancos this season awaits them at the end of the month when they take on Liverpool in Kyiv.
This will also be the first match Andrés Iniesta will participate in since announcing last week that he will leave Barcelona at the end of the season. No doubt, the last El Clásico of his career will be even more special.
Real Madrid are looking for a huge 3 points that would not only bring them closer to 2nd in La Liga, should Atlético lose or draw to Espanyol, but also the first defeat of Barcelona in the league this season. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be a record Real will want to end tomorrow in front of Barcelona’s home crowd.
Injuries/Suspensions
Isco and Varane both returned to training Saturday morning. Dani Carvajal remains in recovery stage after already missing the second leg against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final. It’s important he isn’t rushed so that he is fully ready to face Liverpool on May 26th.
Iniesta is returning from a calf issue, after starting on the bench last week against Deportivo. Barcelona have no other injuries to their squad.
Potential XIs
Real Madrid
Navas; Nacho, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modrić, Casemiro, Kroos; Isco, Ronaldo, Benzema
Assuming Varane and Isco are both ready to start, this could be similar to who we see start in El Clásico on Sunday. I don’t see Achraf starting at right back unless Varane is resting and they need Nacho to start there. The other question would be Isco and if he’s fully fit to start. If not, we’ll probably see Bale or Vasquez start instead. Kovacic, Asensio, and Ceballos are all available to start in place of some of these names or off the bench as subs.
Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Jordi Alba; Rakitić, Busquets, Iniesta, Coutinho; Messi, Suarez
Prediction
3-2 Real Madrid-Barcelona
I’m going with the upset here. With La Liga already won and firmly in a top 4 spot, Real have nothing to lose trying to end Barcelona’s undefeated league streak. Outside of the Champions League Final, this will be the must-watch game of the remaining season. Not only because it is El Clásico, but because it could be Real who finally put an end to Barcelona’s undefeated streak.
Real have done much better away from home this season and that could be a boost for them to get some revenge on Barcelona after losing 3-0 at the Bernabéu. Regardless of what happens, this is the biggest match happening on Sunday and it should be an exciting one as always.
It’s Ronaldo vs. Messi. It’s Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. It’s El Clásico.
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM EL CLASICO
Date: 05/06/2018
Time: 20:45 CET, 02:45pm EST, 11:45am Pacific.
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain.
Available Streaming: BeIN Sports (USA),Fubo.TV (EVERY Real Madrid game with a high-quality and legal stream, click here to sign up and benefit from a spring discount for new members and Managing Madrid readers).
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