Key events
16 min: I mean, you could argue that Bellingham should never have given the keeper the opportunity to make his gymnastic intervention. But you’d require a heart of stone to do so. It was a quite outrageous save … and yeah, again it’s all academic, given the offside flag, but the point stands.
14 min: Camavinga rolls a pass down the left for Mbappe, who rolls across for Bellingham, sliding in at the far post. Bellingham must surely score, and he sticks out a telescopic leg to prod home, but somehow Pena, diving backwards, claws off the line sensationally. That’s one of the great saves, and though the flag then goes up for an offside earlier in the move, take nothing away from it. What a save!
13 min: Barca respond by immediately sending Yamal on a drive down the middle. He scoops a weird shot straight at Lunin, who is grateful for the snaffle. Good fun this, already!
12 min: A simple long ball down the middle nearly costs Barcelona. Cubarsi doesn’t know whether to attempt a headed clearance upfield or guide the ball back to the keeper. In the end he does neither, dismally cushioning into the path of Mbappe, who attempts to lob Pena from 40 yards. A fine effort only just clears the bar.
11 min: Militao nicks the foot of Raphinha, who needs a while to recover. Thankfully the Barca winger is up and about again quickly enough.
10 min: Yamal wedges a ball down the inside-left channel. It drops over Lewandowski’s shoulder, but the striker can’t connect with his swinging leg and the ball sails out for a goal kick. Half a chance that. The sort the volley-happy Robbie Fowler used to fancy.
8 min: Mendy’s appalling heavy touch allows Yamal the opportunity to snatch possession and attack down the right. Mendy breathes again as the delivery is no good. All a bit scrappy early doors as the nerves settle.
7 min: Camavinga bullies a dithering Kounde in order to seize possession of the ball on the halfway line, but his pass down the flank for Mbappe is no good. Kounde needs to wake up quicksmart.
5 min: Valverde’s second corner is headed behind for take three. Pena punches the final one of the sequence away with confidence. Real on top in these early stages.
4 min: Vinicius dribbles down the left and wins the first corner of the evening. Valverde swings it to the near post, where it’s only half cleared, and Vinicius earns a second take.
2 min: Camavinga spins and passes down the inside-left channel in one smooth movement, releasing Mbappe on goal. Mbappe reaches the box, opens his body, and slams a sidefoot into the near side netting. He should have scored. His blushes are spared as the flag pops up for offside, though an initial replay suggests that might have been closer than it looked to the naked eye. The striker and Kounde looked suspiciously level. VAR would have had to get the rulers out … though it’s all academic now, of course.
1 min: Real are immediately on the front foot, Valverde making a nuisance of himself down the right. Mbappe then reaches a ball on the byline and hooks it into the centre, but it’s easy for Pena, and the flag goes up for offside anyway.
Real get the ball rolling. The Bernabeu is bouncing. “I must say I haven’t been this excited for an El Clásico in a while,” writes Philip Amadi-Emina. “Bring it on! On another note I still think Real Madrid don’t and never needed Mbappe. The signing still feels like rims on a Lamborghini.”
Anyway, the players are out … and the home fans are giving it plenty. We’ll be off in a minute.
Real Madrid are on a good run against Barcelona. The Catalans last won el clásico in the league in March 2023, 2-1 at Camp Nou, a match played a couple of weeks after a 1-0 win in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey at the Bernabeu. But then Real won the second leg of that cup semi 4-0 in Barcelona, and since then it’s been the Jude Bellingham show, the young English star notching injury-time winners in Catalonia later that October, and back in Madrid this April. Fold in the January final of the Supercopa and Real are looking to make it five competitive wins in a row.
“These two might, just might, actually be the best teams in Europe again; this could be a battle the way it used to be, closer and more competitive than anyone anticipated … a clash of styles and identities … a clash of titans.” Allow the good doctor to set the scene.
The reigning champions Real Madrid are without Rodrygo and Thibaut Courtois, both of whom are injured. They’re two of three changes to their starting XI after the 5-2 comeback win over Borussia Dortmund, with club captain Luka Modrić dropping to the bench; Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga step into the midfield, while Andriy Lunin is in goal.
Barcelona by contrast are unchanged in the wake of their 4-1 rout of Bayern Munich. Gavi, on his way back from long-term injury, is on the bench and will hope to add to the 12 minutes he’s managed as a sub against Sevilla and Bayern since his return last weekend.
The teams
Real Madrid: Lunin, Vazquez, Militao, Rudiger, Mendy, Bellingham, Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Subs: Gonzalez, Mestre, Modric, Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Ceballos, Garcia, Brahim.
Barcelona: Pena, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde, Casado, Pedri, Yamal, Lopez, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
Subs: Dominguez, Fati, Fort, Kochen, Martin, Olmo, Gavi, Szczesny, Torre, Victor, de Jong.
Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez.
Preamble
Should Real Madrid avoid defeat in tonight’s clásico, they’ll equal the longest unbeaten run in La Liga history. Who holds the current record, which stands at 43 games? Let’s not insult your intelligence by answering that, other than to say that particular team put together their sequence between 2017 and 2018.
That’s not the only reason Barcelona will want to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side tonight. A win for Hansi Flick’s men would give them a serious advantage over the reigning champions in the race for the title, with just 11 games gone. So it really is all to play for, in more ways than one. Kick-off in Madrid is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. ¡Esta sucediendo!
