For Barcelona and Actual Madrid, nothing that’s occurred of their seasons till the Clasico issues.
Who: Actual Madrid vs Barcelona
The place: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
When: 3:15pm (14:15 GMT)
The primary El Clasico of the season is a kind of uncommon fixtures on this planet of soccer that may wipe the slate clear.
For Barcelona and Actual Madrid, nothing that has occurred of their seasons till then issues. However all the pieces that follows is formed by it.
For these two monoliths of Spanish soccer, the primary Clasico of the season is the purpose from the place their home campaigns really start.
Close to-perfect begins to the league
Whereas Actual Madrid’s injury-time equaliser towards a spirited Shakhtar Donetsk aspect within the Champions League on Wednesday sealed their qualification to the knockouts for a report thirty first time, Barcelona’s 3-3 draw towards Inter Milan left them getting ready to a group-stage exit for the second successive season.
There’s a sharp distinction of their fortunes within the Champions League however they’ve been near-inseparable in La Liga to date.
Each groups have seven wins from their first eight video games. Each are unbeaten within the league.
Barcelona come into the Clasico sitting prime of the league, forward of Actual solely on aim distinction.
🏆 In 184 #ElClásico‘s, there have been:
🤍 295 Actual Madrid objectives 💜
💙 295 FC Barcelona objectives❤️🤔 Who would be the first to achieve 296…?
📺 Discover out tomorrow on #LaLigaTV! pic.twitter.com/KOptZgdJ1V
— LaLigaTV (@LaLigaTV) October 15, 2022
Madrid’s latest dominance
The shadow of Barcelona’s 4-0 win on the Bernabeu in March this yr looms massive over Sunday’s sport.
It was the Catalan membership’s first Clasico win in three years they usually scored extra objectives in that match than they’d managed of their final 5 conferences with Madrid.
Actual supervisor Carlo Ancelotti has a poor report on this fixture, having received simply two of the six Clasicos he has overseen. He’s but to defeat Barcelona on the Bernabeu.
Lewandowski’s Clasico debut
Barca has a new-look entrance line this season.
Whereas Raphinha’s arrival in the summertime, coupled with Ousmane Dembélé’s type, has elevated the assault’s efficiency, the centrepiece is undoubtedly Robert Lewandowski.
The Polish striker has made a brisk begin to life at Barca since his transfer from Bayern Munich, scoring 14 objectives in his first 12 appearances for the brand new membership.
It is going to be his first Clasico as a Barça participant however Lewandowski has a powerful report towards Actual Madrid, scoring six objectives within the eight occasions he has performed towards them.
Barcelona will put on Drake’s OVO owl on their jersey in El Clásico to rejoice him being the primary artist to achieve 50 billion streams on Spotify 🎵 pic.twitter.com/4SFwgfvUX5
— B/R Soccer (@brfootball) October 14, 2022
Ancelotti’s midfield determination
Toni Kroos and Luka Modric’s age-defying performances final season purchased Actual Madrid an surprising further yr to organize for the change of guard in midfield.
In Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and summer-signing Aurélien Tchouameni, they’ve put collectively a midfield that would type the group’s bedrock for the subsequent decade.
The truth that Kroos and Modric have began simply two La Liga video games collectively this season factors in direction of the transition going down in Madrid. However, additionally it is equally telling that one in every of Kroos or Modric has been within the beginning XI of each league sport to date this yr.
Coaches’ nook
Barcelona’s Xavi: “I’m all the time an optimist and I see this sport as an excellent alternative for us. We’re the [LaLiga] leaders and we need to proceed to be as of Sunday. We need to depart the previous behind. If we’re constructive, all the pieces will probably be superb.”
Actual’s Ancelotti: “I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, you’ll be able to depend on that. Final time, I attempted to play the inventor, they gave me a beating. So I don’t count on we will probably be doing something out of the unusual on Sunday. We are going to play like we often do. They’re an excellent rival and we have to be on prime of our sport.”
