Real, Barca set for another El Clasico battle

Barcelona travel to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in the El Clasico on Saturday night in the biggest game in La Liga and arguably the biggest and most important fixture in world club football.

Games between these two heavyweights have, over the years, showcased the spectacular talents of the game’s best – and worst.

We bring you the facts, figures, talking points and yes, Ronaldo v Messi of the 169th El Clasico!

MORE THAN JUST 3 POINTS

Real are four points behind in third and even if they pick up the maximum points, Barca will still be ahead of Madrid.

But the game is much more than that.

This is a big match because of the extra stuff attendant to El Clasico.

Bragging rights, for one.

PIG HEAD AND EYE-POKING

The Clasico has seen Barca fans toss the head of a suckling pig at Real midfielder Luis Figo who did the unthinkable by leaving Barca to join their arch rivals.

His Portuguese compatriot Jose Mourinho, when he was in charge at Real, poked Barca assistant coach Tito Vilanova in the eye during a mass brawl.

EXTRA EDGE

This latest edition has an extra edge given the ongoing battle between the central government in Madrid and the Catalan administration in Barcelona over the region’s independence drive.

DATE ROW

The date for the clash has seen two of the most important players in both sides at daggers drawn.

Ronaldo is not happy with El Clasico’s date, criticising the Spanish league’s decision to fix the most important game for the two sides with so little rest for one of the contenders following their 3-0 win at Anfield in the Champions League on Wednesday.

“I don’t understand why they did it. Everybody knows that a footballer needs to rest properly, since we are always facing tough competitions. If you have one more day’s rest, it makes a huge difference. But we won’t make excuses, we will play like we are used to and we are going to win on Saturday,” Ronaldo said.

Andres Iniesta responded ironically, making it clear that Barcelona are ready to face Madrid regardless of the number of days they have rested.

“The calendar has been announced way before; it’s nothing new. You have to work around it and never complain,” he said.

“Sometimes we have arrived to important matches with less time to recover and we are not crying about it. We have to think about winning, and not if we will remain as league leaders if we lose.”

This is a classic example of what Nigerian politicians call “heating up the polity”.

LOOK WHO IS BACK

Luis Suarez is available for the first time, following the end of his lengthy ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini, at the World Cup.

“Luis Suarez is ready to make his official Barca debut as his FIFA ban comes to an end and could do so on Saturday against Real Madrid,” a statement from Barcelona said.

“Now his wait is over, Suarez is available for Luis Enrique to play him on Saturday in his official debut – hopefully with the same results as he managed at the start of his league career for Liverpool, when he scored after just 11 minutes on the pitch, Ajax – a goal after 42 minutes and Groningen where he scored after 36 minutes.”

A goal-scoring debut, again?

But it remains to be seen if the former Liverpool star will start.

LOOK WHO IS OUT

Real Madrid are likely to be without Wales winger and record signing Gareth Bale, who has a buttock muscle strain and missed the Liverpool game.

Bale’s absence is a big setback for Madrid given he has scored five goals and claimed four assists in nine games this season.

RONALDO V MESSI

Lionel Messi can become the all-time leading goal scorer in La Liga this weekend.

The Argentine is just one goal behind Telmo Zarra’s 59-year-old record of scoring 251 goals for Athletic Bilbao.

CLASICO KING

On his last visit to the Bernabeu, Messi passed compatriot and Madrid legend Di Stefano by scoring a hat-trick to become the leading goal scorer in El Clasicos with 21 in 28 matches.

Ronaldo is down in seventh on that list with 13 in 21 games against Barca since he joined Madrid in 2009.

RICH VEIN OF GOAL-SCORING FORM

Ronaldo’s incredible run of scoring 15 goals so far this season in La Liga is an all-time record after eight games. It took only seven appearances to reach that mark, having missed Real’s defeat to Real Sociedad due to injury.

By contrast, Messi’s record of seven goals in eight games seems poor; however, he has also provided a league-high nine assists.

RIGHT BEHIND RAUL

Messi and Ronaldo were both on target as Barca and Madrid continued their march towards the UEFA Champions League last 16 with victories over Ajax and Liverpool, respectively.

Both are now on the verge of surpassing Real legend Raul’s record of 71 UCL goals with Ronaldo on 70 and Messi just one behind.

HAT TRICK KINGS

Ronaldo has scored three hat-tricks in four league games this season to move level with Zarra and Di Stefano on 22 in La Liga.

Messi has 19, but two of those came against Madrid in a 4-3 win last season and a 3-3 draw in 2007.

RACE FOR BALLON D’OR

Between Messi and Ronaldo, they have won the World Player of the Year for the last six years – Ronaldo in 2008 and last year, while Messi picked up the award a record four times in between.

Votes for Germany’s World Cup winners may likely split amongst a number of players, so, Messi and Ronaldo are the favourites once more and Saturday’s spectacle provides the ideal stage to make a late case to voters.

FORM GUIDE

The hosts have won five straight games since losing to city rivals Atletico Madrid in September.

Real’s 30 goals lead the league by a wide margin, and half of those have come from the same player—Ronaldo.

Los Blancos have two losses to their name, but both came early in the season.

Barcelona are undefeated through eight matches, winning seven of those contests.

Barcelona’s goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, has gone 720 minutes without letting in a goal.

A win for leaders Barca, who have yet to concede a goal in eight La Liga games this season and won both fixtures last season, would stretch their advantage over third-placed Real to seven points.

Real Madrid have only won two of their last 12 league meetings with Barcelona (D2 L8).

Carlo Ancelotti’s side have won their last five league games, scoring an average of five goals per game.

Barcelona have the opportunity to record the longest run of clean sheets in their league history (nine, currently eight).

The Catalan giants are unbeaten in 13 league games (W9 D4); their last defeat came back in April at Granada (1-0).

Barcelona are unbeaten in 11 league games against sides from Madrid (W8 D3), last losing to a team from the capital back in March 2013 (2-1 at the Bernabeu).

Both sides have scored in each of the last 16 Clasicos, the longest run of its kind in the fixture’s long history.

Real have scored in every league match this season—Barca are yet to concede. On Saturday, one of these two statistics will have to give.

QUOTES

It will be a difficult match because Barcelona are playing well. I’m not going to play against Messi, I’m going to play against Barcelona. They are a great team. Real Madrid and Barcelona are playing each other.

Cristiano Ronaldo

I dreamed about it as a child but now I don’t want to dream about, it I want to experience it. I used to watch them at home with my wife as a football fan because it’s a match in which the world’s best players clash. Hopefully I won’t have to watch it on TV again because I want to experience it on the pitch.

Ivan Rakitic, Barca midfielder

“The Clasico is always a battle in footballing terms. You have to be the best in everything to win. We have to go there with the mentality to win – not thinking about what will happen afterwards, no matter what happens. That would be a mistake. It will be a closely fought game. Madrid have a lot of potential and it’s never easy to go there and win.”

Andres Iniesta

“We’re in good form and in good shape, focused and playing really well. We go into the Clasico in great shape and Barcelona also go into the match in ideal condition.”

Carlo Ancelotti, Real coach, after Wednesday’s 3-0 Champions League success at Liverpool