10 min: Good save by Courtois! Messi plays a typical pass inside Vazquez to release Jordi Alba. He fires a low cross towards Dembele that is pushed away by the diving Courtois. That was a vital bit of goalkeeping, because Dembele would otherwise have had an open goal.
9 min Pedri combines nicely with Dembele and finds Messi on the edge of the D. He makes a beeline for goal but it well tackled by Mendy.
6 min It’s been a confident start from Barcelona, with plenty of the old tiki-taka.
5 min Vinicius breaks into the area from the left, but his touch is too heavy and the ball runs out of play. That was a hint of a chance for Madrid.
3 min Plenty of early possession for Barcelona, albeit in the middle third of the pitch.
1 min Peep peep! We’re off and running.
“Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “This training ground pitch doesn’t really do justice to El Clasico, does it?”
Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi lead their teams onto the pitch. Let’s get it on.
A bit more pre-match reading
Just over 10 minutes until the kick off. Here’s a reminder of how the table looks - the leaders Atletico Madrid have a tricky game at Betis tomorrow night.
Sid Lowe’s preview
Both teams make one change from their midweek wins. Real Madrid bring in Fede Valverde for Marco Asensio, which probably means a change to a diamond midfield. Barcelona have replaced Antoine Griezmann with Ronald Araujo, so Frenkie de Jong will move into midfield. Gerard Pique, who has been out for a month, is back on the bench.
Real Madrid (4-3-3) Courtois; Lucas Vazquez, Militao, Nacho, Mendy; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Junior.
Substitutes: Lunin, Altube, Asensio, Marcelo, Odriozola, Isco, Mariano, Rodrygo.
Barcelona (3-4-2-1) ter Stegen; Mingueza, Araujo, Lenglet; Dest, de Jong, Busquets, Jordi Alba; Messi, Pedri; Dembele.
Substitutes: Pena, Tenas, Pique, Griezmann, Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Trincao, Sergi Roberto, Umtiti, Junior, Moriba.
Referee Gil Manzano.
The clasico has got its glamour back. After a couple of years of relative drabness, this feels like a proper meeting between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The context is perfect for the neutral: both teams know that victory tonight would put them top of the table, and make them favourites to win La Liga. That looked unlikely a few months ago, particularly when Barcelona were 13th in the table. But their recent form has been devastating, and they have taken 40 points from 14 league games since the turn of the year.
Real Madrid are also in very good form and dealt efficiently with Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. But they will again be without Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, which is far from ideal against a rampant Barcelona attack. Oh, just one other thing about tonight’s game: it might be Lionel Messi’s last clasico.
Kick off 9pm in Madrid, 8pm in London.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3wV4BbA
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