El Clásico is back at Spotify Camp Nou after a 1,148-day wait. Before previewing the match, the Club want to express their most sincere condolences to coach Hansi Flick after the passing of his father. The thoughts of FC Barcelona and the entire blaugrana family are with the coach and his family during these difficult moments and we share their sorrow. The first team players will wear black armbands during the Clásico as a sign of respect and mourning.
The match itself kicks off at Sunday 9pm CEST and may see Barça win the league title in a game against their biggest rival of all for the first time ever. They are going into the game with an 11-point lead over Real Madrid with just four games to go, meaning that a draw would be enough to for the Catalans to be mathematically confirmed as Liga champions.
But Hansi Flick and his players won’t want to settle for that. They’ll be looking for all three points, which would also keep alive the dream of becoming the first team ever to win all 19 home fixtures in a Liga season (there is one more game against Betis to come after this) and also the possibility of reaching the amazing target of 100 points. A clean sheet would also do wonders for Joan Garcia’s chances of scooping the Zamora trophy.
And in association with Spotify, and has become a regular feature of El Clásico in recent years, the famous fixture is tying in with an equally famous musical act. This time it’s the turn of US songstress Olivia Rodrigo, the voice behind such monster hits as Drivers License, Good 4 U, Vampire and Drop Dead and who was in town to perform a special private concert on Friday night.
Her logo will be featuring on the team shirt, as it already did for the women’s Liga F match against Levante UD earlier this week.
Form guide
A lot has happened since last October’s Clásico at the Santiago Bernabeu, which Real Madrid won 2-1 thanks to to goals from Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham. That result gave Madrid the edge in the title race, but a slump in form towards the end of the year, which would culminate with the club and coach Xavi Alonso parting ways, sent things full circle and instead it was FC Barcelona who started building up a commanding lead.
Since the last Clásico, Barça have lost only two league matches (against Real Sociedad and Girona), winning every single one of their 22 other games.
Meanwhile, under new manager Álvaro Arbeloa, consistency has continued to be a problem at Real Madrid. Though the team can still turn on the magic, disappointments against the likes of Osasuna, Getafe and Mallorca have opened up such a big gap at the top of table that Barça could now claim the league trophy with no fewer than three games to spare.
Barça could actually have won the title last weekend after late goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres secured a 2-1 win at Osasuna, but the bottles of cava had to stay in the fridge, hopefully for just one more week, after Madrid won 2-0 at Espanyol the day after.
Head to head
Heading into last season, Real Madrid were on a run of four consecutive Clásico victories across all competitions, but that pattern soon changed after Hansi Flick took charge of Barça. Starting with that magnificent 4-0 victory at the Bernabeu, the German led the team to a full house of four wins in four Clásicos played in the 2024-25 season.
The 2-1 defeat in October is the only time Flick has ever failed to beat the all-whites, with Barça winning again, 3-2, in that dramatic Super Cup Final in Saudi Arabia, the last time the two teams met.
Throughout their history, Barça and Real Madrid have met 263 times in official competitions. Madrid currently have the edge, with 106 wins to Barça’s 105, so a blaugrana victory on Sunday would level the teams up again.
Team news
Barça are again without their star player, Lamine Yamal, who is not expected to be back this season, although he should be okay in time for the World Cup. But otherwise, Hansi Flick has a remarkably healthy squad. Marc Bernal already got some game time since recovering and even Andreas Christensen is back in training and ready to make a long-awaited comeback.
Raphinha was also included in last week’s squad, but Flick eventually chose not to use the Brazilian, presumably reserving his return for this weekend. For Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé, Valverde, Rodrygo, Arda Guler, Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy are all unavailable. However, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who hasn’t played since March, has been declared fit and could well feature in Sunday’s showdown.
What they’re saying
As is typical, there have been no end of interviews with different players in the build-up to one of the biggest matches of the season:
Hansi Flick: “it’s important for the supporters, for the players and also for us, the staff. We want to win the title, the second in a row. Nothing else matters. We’re fully focused on that.” FULL STORY
Marc Bernal: “I would say to the fans that they should trust us, that we should all stick together because it will be very special and a day to remember.” FULL STORY
Ferran Torres: “Winning this LaLiga would be deserved. We’ve developed as a team and it will have been earned” FULL STORY
Gavi: “There are players who have never played a Clásico there, and you experience it very intensely. It will be a great match.” FULL STORY
Jules Kounde: “We’ve trained well, we’re fully switched on and we want the win because it would be the best way to clinch the league title at the Spotify Camp Nou in front of the culers” FULL STORY