Sports Blog 19/11/2015: El Clasico Preview – Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Saturday 21st November 2015

In one of the biggest matches the sport has to offer, Real Madrid and Barcelona go head-to-head on Saturday in the season’s first El Clasico!

A mere 3 points separate Barca and Real at the top La Liga, with a few missteps here and there ensuring that neither has been able to get a firm leg up over the other – until, perhaps, now.

The only blights on Barcelona’s record this season, in the league at least, are a heavy 4-1 end of September defeat against 4th place Celta Vigo and a 2-1 start of October loss to Sevilla. The Catalan club have won each of their other 9 games and, more importantly, have largely managed to side-step the issues that many though would arise when Lionel Messi got injured against Las Palmas almost 8 weeks ago. Whether or not the Argentinian magician will return this weekend is a source of much speculation, with many suspecting he will make an appearance be it from the bench or otherwise. Our Spreadex traders certainly feel he will have a part to play, offering a Super Mega PGM spread of 43-50 alongside 17/4 fixed odds to score first.



The main reason Barca have managed to (largely) maintain their winning streak since Messi’s malady is the fine form of Luis Suarez and, even more so, Neymar. With both sitting at Super Mega PGMs of 27-32, it is noticeable how much they have taken up the slack since Messi came off injured on the 26th September; on 13 goals each so far this season, Neymar has scored 8 and Suarez has scored 6 in the 5 league games played without their Argentine companion. It’s a reminder that Barcelona are much more than just Messi, and a warning to just how destructive they might be when their captain comes back.

Not to be outshone, Cristiano Ronaldo also sits on 13 goals this season, and is favourite to score first on Saturday at 15/4 fixed odds with a muscular Super Mega PGM spread of 50-58. However, Ronaldo doesn’t have quite the same support as his Ballon d’Or rival; on 7 goals this season Karim Benzema (at 13/2 to score first) has been injured since the start of October and of late has become embroiled in a bizarre sex-tape extortion scandal with his French teammate Mathieu Valbuena. James Rodriguez, meanwhile, has only scored twice this season, whilst Welsh wonder Gareth Bale is only on 2; they sit at Super Mega PGMs of 16-20 and 18-22 respectively.

Real actually only saw their first La Liga loss just before the international break, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Sevilla (who, despite sitting in 10th, have beaten both of the league’s big boys already this season). Yet even before this blip, low scoring draws against Sporting Gijon, Malaga and Atletico Madrid (who sit a single point behind their fierce city rivals) prevented Rafa Benitez’s side from capitalising on Barcelona’s wobble a few weeks ago, leaving them stuck in 2nd place.

Of course that could all change this weekend, with Real’s superior goal difference meaning they would leapfrog their opponents if victorious at the Bernabeu. And whilst El Clasico’s are hard to call at the best of times, especially so when both teams are in near equal form, our traders think the home side just about have it, offering a Real Madrid/Barcelona Goal Supremacy spread of 0-0.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.2-3.4.