(Football news) With 24 points after their first 10 games of the season, Barcelona—still unbeaten in all competitions this season—is ranked third in the standings, with Real Madrid leading the way with 25 points.
Barcelona proved to be the clear favourite in La Liga last season, winning the title with four games remaining and ending 10 points ahead of Real Madrid in second place. However, it looks like there will be much more competition at the top this time around.
After ten league games, Xavi’s team is in third place, one point behind leaders Real Madrid and second-place Girona. The team has been far from flawless this season, having drawn with Getafe, Mallorca, and Granada. However, they have won seven of their other eight games to score 24 points.
Marc Guiu, a 17-year-old making his league debut, scored a crucial goal to help the Catalan giants defeat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 last weekend. On Wednesday night, they defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 in the Champions League.
Barcelona is leading Group H with nine points, and although Xavi hasn’t been able to lead the team into the knockout stage of the Champions League, the La Liga winners are in a great position to move on.
Though this match is not being played at Camp Nou owing to restoration work that is being done, which could level the playing field in that sense, Barcelona has won two of their past three league games against Real Madrid, including a 2-1 triumph in the comparable encounter last season.
While the title will not be decided on Saturday, the Catalan team has defeated Real Madrid four times in the last six meetings across all competitions. Therefore, getting a good result in these games is always crucial.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, will go into the match fresh from a 2-1 Champions League victory against Braga on Tuesday, which put them atop Group C with nine points.
Similar to Barcelona, Carlo Ancelotti’s team is in a fantastic position to move on to the round of sixteen. They are currently leading La Liga with a record of eight wins, one draw, and one loss. On September 24, they lost away to Atletico Madrid, and it was an awful performance from the visitors to Wanda Metropolitano.
Real Madrid’s narrow victory over Braga in Portugal means that they will go into El Clasico on the strength of a win, with confidence high in the camp due to a strong start to the campaign. They were also far from their best against Sevilla in the league last weekend, but managed to gain a point after falling behind.
Jude Bellingham, 20, will now participate in his debut Clasico in what is anticipated to be a long and successful career in the Spanish capital. Bellingham has been the team’s standout player this season, scoring 11 goals and dishing out three assists in 12 games across all competitions.
When the two teams last faced off in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal back in March, Los Blancos crushed Barcelona 4-0; their last league away victory against the Catalan squad came in October 2021.
Real Madrid has really had the greatest defensive record in La Liga this season, giving up just seven goals, compared to Barcelona’s ten goals conceded. However, Xavi’s team has outscored the capital team 22 to 21.
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