On Saturday night, the world will be watching the Santiago Bernabeu. El Clasico is always an eagerly-anticipated fixture, but on this occasion, there is even more intrigue surrounding the iconic match-up between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Being the biggest fixture in world football, there will be many uk live football streams that will be sought out for those trying to cast their eye over the action in the Spanish capital. The signs are that it will be a very intriguing evening.
Before the season began, Real Madrid were tipped as hot favourites to retain their La Liga title. They were much better than Barcelona during the 2023-24 campaign, and with Kylian Mbappe being added in, the expectation was that Los Blancos would be the best team in Spain for the second year running. However, that script is not being followed at this stage.
Barcelona have ripped it up in the opening 10 matchdays. Hansi Flick’s side have won nine of those matches, with their only defeat coming against Osasuna (4-1). Defensively, the Catalans have not been overly convincing, but in attack, they have blown teams away – the likes of Real Valladolid (7-0), Villarreal (5-1) and Sevilla (5-1) are among those to have been torn apart.
Flick will fancy this side to take the game to Real Madrid in their own backyard. Carlo Ancelotti’s side have been far from convincing this season, especially in defence – furthermore, Los Blancos will be without first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who has bailed them out on several occasions in the last few weeks.
There’s no doubt that Barcelona can cause many problems for Real Madrid with their attacking firepower, but the problem could be at the other end. They’ve not been convincing defensively, and given that Flick likes to operate a very high line, that could be taken advantage of by the likes of Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
Flick is well aware of this potential problem, which is why he has been working to ensure that Barcelona are able to effectively deal with Mbappe and Vinicius. However, stopping them – and the latter in particular – will be extremely difficult. Because of this, a high-scoring match is expected at the Bernabeu. Both teams have a lot of firepower in attack, while their defences have flattered to deceive.
There’s no doubt that El Clasico is going to be the fixture to watch this weekend. It will be very interesting to see whether Barcelona can continue their sparkling form, or whether they’ll be brought back down to earth by Real Madrid.
By Alejandro Fernandez