La Liga: It’s the El Clasico…for Real!

Real Madrid vs Barcelona 

It’s always been the biggest game in Europe, if not the world, but this year, El Clasico – the meetings of La Liga’s big two, Real Madrid and Barcelona – is something very special. 

Los Blancos will host the Blaugrana at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday with the two teams locked on 22 points from their opening eight games, five clear of the chasing pack and the Catalans are top on goal difference. Real Madrid need to win the game to knock their fiercest rivals off the summit and that outcome would cause a shiver in the betting market.

The latest La Liga 2022 betting odds for the title here at SBOTOP have brought the Blaugrana in to a price of 1.75 with Real Madrid at 2.20 and Atletico the next in line at 23.00. Three points for Los Blancos and the top two may just swap places.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid come into the game on the back of a 1-0 win away to Getafe and they made the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday night thanks to a 1-1 draw in Donetsk. Barcelona beat Celta Vigo last week to hold on to top spot and then met Inter Milan on Wednesday night when they battled to a 3-3 draw.    

Strictly speaking, this isn’t the first Clasico of the season as Xavi’s Barcelona beat Real Madrid 1-0 in a pre-season friendly in Las Vegas, as Brazilian ace Raphinha scored his second goal since his transfer from Leeds United… so the bragging rights are currently in Catalonia.  

Talking Points 

Benzema is back and Real Madrid are hard to beat

An injury to Madrid talisman Karim Benzema in the Champions League against Celtic interrupted the France striker’s season and that was a blow to Los Blancos. He was vital to Real Madrid’s 2021/22 success with an incredible 44 goals in all competitions. So fans at the Bernabeu will be delighted to see him back in the white shirt in time for the Clasico. He appeared in Los Blancos’ 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday and, while he didn’t score, he always makes his team harder to beat.

Ancelotti’s men left it late but a 95^th-minute goal from Antonio Rudiger, as he headed in a Toni Kroos cross, was enough to see them through to the knockout phase of the Champions League and now the boss can concentrate on La Liga matters. The triumphant centre-back clashed heads with the Shakhtar defender and left the field at full time covered in blood.

And Ancelotti said this was a fine example of how his team will always fight to the very end.          

Following Benzema’s absence, Vinicius Junior is top scoring with five goals while Federico Valverde has three and is enjoying his best period at the club in some time.

Barca going with what they have

While Barcelona have toiled a little in the Champions League, their La Liga 2022 results have been excellent and 1-0 win over Celta Vigo last week took them to the top of the league.   

Xavi didn’t take Celta for granted, and quite rightly so as Barca had to nervously hold on for the win after young midfield star Pedri had handed them a 17^th-minute lead. Officials at the club have said Barca are unlikely to invest in the January transfer window and the emergence of Pedri, and fellow teenagers Gavi and Ansu Fati as key players make the future look bright at the Camp Nou. Fati has made three assists this term and Pedri is playing higher up the pitch where he looks at ease in support of Barca’s main hit man Robert Lewandowski.

Lewy already has nine league goals to his name, putting him nicely in front in the race for the Golden Boot, three ahead of Real Betis star Borja Iglesias and Espanyol’s Joselu, and the addition of a proven goal scorer to a squad Xavi has been successfully moulding for almost 12 months, may be enough to see the Blaugrana through. 

History

While Barcelona have had the better of the head to head El Clasico results, winning 34 of the last 77 to Real Madrid’s 24, Los Blancos had fared better in recent times winning four on the bounce until Xavi’s new look Barca plundered a 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu last March before also winning the pre-season friendly.

Real Madrid have won four of the last six, drawing the other two, while Barca have three wins, all in the league, and two defeats and a draw from the last six.

While Real Madrid have won two and drawn one of their home games in La Liga, Barcelona have won all four of their league matches on the road.

Betting Tip 

Los Blancos, with the home advantage, are at odds of 2.26 to take all three points with the Blaugrana at 2.73 and the draw is 3.44. 

Five of Los Blancos’ last six games have featured 2-3 goals while only one of Barca’s last six have featured more than three goals, so a 1-1 draw or a 2-1 either way looks like it might be on the cards.

 

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