El Clasico clinched the title for Barcelona and revived the struggle for Real Madrid

The “Spotify Camp Nou” stadium will witness a heavy-caliber battle tomorrow, Sunday, between Barcelona and Real Madrid, in the 26th round of the Spanish Football League.

Barcelona leads the league with 65 points, nine points ahead of Real Madrid II with 56 points, and for this reason, Real Madrid’s victory means reviving its hopes of competing for the title. As the difference will fall to six points, but the victory of the Catalan club will raise the difference to 12 points.

Although the match will take place in a tense atmosphere due to the “Negriera affair”; It is suspected that Barcelona was paying money for arbitration, but it seems that the pressure on the Catalan team is not great; Because they haven’t lost from Real Madrid in 2023 yet.

The two teams met twice this year, in which victory was an ally of the Blaugrana, by winning three goals to one in the Super Cup, and with a clean goal in the first leg of the King’s Cup semi-finals.

Barca will play the match without its player Pedro Gonzalez “Pedri”, although all indications said that he will be included in the team’s list. The player felt pain in the penultimate team training session, and because the coaching staff did not want to take any risks, he decided not to include him.

Xavi’s team arrives to meet in a good defensive position; As he conceded only eight goals over the course of 25 rounds in the League. The Catalan club owes credit to the brilliance of its goalkeeper Ter Stegen and the amazing level that Uruguayan Ronald Araujo offers in defense.

Araujo returns to the team list after being absent from the recent Athletic Bilbao match at San Mamés; due to the suspension penalty. And the Uruguayan will, as usual, stop the danger of Brazilian Vinicius Junior.

And in the last 3 victories for Barca over Real Madrid in El Clasico, it was Araujo who ensured that the Brazilian wing was stopped.

Barcelona without Pedri in El Clasico

For his part, Real Madrid has no choice but to win to keep his chances alive in the competition. In the last two visits to Real Madrid to the “Camp Nou” stadium in the league, he managed to win, and he will, of course, strive to achieve a third consecutive victory there in the League.

Real Madrid will also seek to change the offensively helpless image that appeared in the last match in the King’s Cup, when it failed to score the Catalan club, which suffered in that match from very important absences.

Karim Benzema will face a difficult task in scoring against Ter Stegen, and the fans hope that he will appear at a better level than he was in Liverpool’s last match in the Champions League. Because even though he did score, it was clear he wasn’t in his best shape.

For his part, Vinicius hopes to emerge victorious this time in his personal fight with Araujo and to be free from his defensive restrictions. Perhaps coach Carlo Ancelotti will resort to playing with an attacking trio consisting of Benzema, Vinicius and Rodrigo, who will exchange positions with each other to disrupt the Catalan defense, in a way that allows more spaces for “Vinnie”.

Possible formation of the two teams:

Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Araujo, Conde, Christensen, Baldi, Busquets, De Jong, Casey, Rafinha, Lewandowski and Gavi.

Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Nacho, Choameni, Kroos, Modric (or Federico Valverde), Rodrygo, Vinicius and Benzema.

Referee: Ricardo de Burgos Bengochea.

Stadium: Spotify Camp Nou.