Barca out to deny Madrid share of LaLiga record
With a respective seven and four-point gap having already developed between first and second and their nearest challengers, Barcelona and Real Madrid look likely to go head-to-head to rule LaLiga once again this season.
After the two sides lit up the UEFA Champions League in midweek – Madrid recovering to beat Borussia Dortmund 5-2, while Barcelona trounced Bayern Munich 4-1 – Sunday's (AEDT) Clasico is the must-watch fixture in the European calendar this week.
Hansi Flick's Barcelona leads the way with nine wins from his first 10 league games in charge, while Madrid has one of two unbeaten records remaining in the division, alongside neighbour Atletico Madrid.
Carlo Ancelotti's reigning Spanish and European champion has an opportunity not only to knock Barca off the top this weekend, but to earn a slice of history.
It is one game away from matching the longest unbeaten run in the history of LaLiga, recorded by Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona (43) between 2017 and 2018.
Can Los Blancos match their great rival's feat at Santiago Bernabeu? Here, we dive into the Opta data to preview the first Clasico of the campaign.
What's expected?
Despite Barcelona making a flying start to Flick's reign, it is Madrid that is made favourite at home by the Opta supercomputer.
Ancelotti's team was victorious in 56 per cent of the 10,000 match simulations conducted by the supercomputer, with Barca winning 21.3 per cent and 22.7 per cent finishing all square.
Madrid has an excellent record versus Barca lately, winning each of its past four matches against it in all competitions. It could now record five straight victories in El Clasico for just the second time in the past 59 years, having done so between 2020 and 2022.
Ancelotti, meanwhile, could become just the third coach to win five or more successive Clasicos in the history of the fixture, after Miguel Munoz between 1962 and 1965 (seven) and Pep Guardiola between 2008 and 2010 (five).
Jude Bellingham struck dramatic winners in both league fixtures last season – a 2-1 triumph in Catalonia last October and a 3-2 victory in Madrid in April.
On its own turf, Madrid has won four of its past five meetings with Barca (one defeat), winning each of the past two.
It has not won three straight home Clasicos in the competition since a run of four consecutive wins between 1988 and 1991, a period in which it won LaLiga three times in four campaigns.
History beckons for Los Blancos
Incredibly, Madrid has not been beaten in league action since 25 September last year, when it went down 3-1 to Atletico.
Its unbeaten run in LaLiga now stands at 42 matches, with 31 wins and 11 draws in that timeframe.
Sunday's (AEDT) game offers it the chance to draw level with the mark brought up by Valverde's Barca between April 2017 and May 2018 (34 wins, nine draws). With bottom club Valencia its next opponents after this match, it has a great opportunity to snatch that record outright.
While last season's Clasico hero Bellingham is yet to score in LaLiga this term and has only provided one assist in his six appearances, Madrid has another player with a knack of breaking Barca hearts.
Vinicius Junior has been involved in seven goals in his past four games in El Clasico in all competitions, scoring five goals and laying on two assists.
In total, the Real Madrid forward has scored seven goals in 17 games against Barcelona. It is his second-best goalscoring opponent after Valencia (eight goals).
Vinicius also got Los Blancos' winner as it overcame Celta Vigo 2-1 in last weekend, then scored a wonderful hat-trick in the comeback victory over Dortmund in midweek, taking him to 35 goal involvements (20 goals, 15 assists) in his last 35 UEFA Champions League starts.
With the Brazilian dovetailing with Bellingham, Rodrygo and Kylian Mbappe, Madrid has the firepower to halt Barca's brilliant start to life under Flick, and seal its own place in the record books in the process.
Major test for Flick
Flick could hardly have wished for a better start to his tenure at Barca, with a 4-2 defeat at Osasuna last month the only blot on his record in LaLiga.
Last week's 5-0 rout of Sevilla also took the Blaugrana to 33 goals in 10 league games under Flick. Only Zinedine Zidane has enjoyed a more prolific start through 10 games as a manager in LaLiga this century (34).
Three of the nine players in the big five European leagues to be involved in 10 or more goals this season, meanwhile, represent Barcelona: Robert Lewandowski (12 goals, two assists), Lamine Yamal (four goals, six assists) and Raphinha (five goals, five assists).
Only three players from those five leagues have at least five goals and five assists this term: Mohamed Salah (five goals, five assists with Liverpool), Cole Palmer (six goals, five assists with Chelsea) and Raphinha.
Flick got one over on his former club in style in midweek, with Raphinha's hat-trick helping Barcelona end a run of six straight UEFA Champions League meetings with Bayern.
If that result was not enough of a statement, Barcelona achieved it with a youthful starting XI with an average age of 24 years and 185 days, their youngest line-up for a UEFA Champions League match since December 2011 versus BATE Borisov (23 years, 93 days).
A trip to Santiago Bernabeu, however, surely represents Flick's toughest test to date.
Each of the past five Barcelona coaches – Xavi, Ronald Koeman, Quique Setien, Valverde and Luis Enrique – have lost their first competitive Clasico, with Gerardo Martino the last to oversee a victory in his first one (2-1 in 2013). If Flick can buck that trend, it will be advantage Barca in the title race.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Real Madrid – Vinicius Junior
As well as having a fine record in Clasico matches, Vinicius has also been involved in at least one goal in each of his past six matches in LaLiga (four goals, three assists), netting the winner at Celta Vigo last weekend.
The Brazilian is widely considered the favourite to win the Ballon d'Or and against Dortmund, led all players on the pitch for xG (1.26), shots (seven), shots on target (four) and dribbles completed (six), also creating two chances and contesting a joint-high 16 duels.
Barcelona – Lamine Yamal
While Raphinha stole the headlines against Bayern in midweek, his fellow winger Yamal also shone, recording an assist as he became the youngest player to make 10 UEFA Champions League starts, aged 17 years and 102 days.
He already has six assists in LaLiga this season, becoming the first Barca player to reach that figure within the opening 10 matchdays since Lionel Messi in 2014-2015 (seven).
