By Daily Sports on December 18, 2019

Fifty-two days after initially scheduled, the first Clasico of the season takes place on Wednesday night as Barcelona welcome Real Madrid to Camp Nou.

Only goal difference separates the two sides at the top of the La Liga table, meaning that victory for either would put daylight between them and their greatest rivals as they approach the midway point of the season.

El Clasico is a match that needs no extra hype, but the prolonged wait for the first edition of the season has whetted the appetite even more ahead of Wednesday’s showdown.

The script could hardly be more tantalisingly written either, with the two sides level on points at the top of La Liga following the weekend’s action and only Barcelona’s slightly superior goal difference keeping them as league leaders.

Both clubs will hope that matters on the pitch, rather than the political unrest off it which caused the original fixture to be postponed, make the headlines, and for both teams it is also a chance to get back to winning ways after draws last time out.

Barcelona saw their seven-match winning streak come to an end on a difficult trip to La Anoeta as they drew 2-2 with Real Sociedad, and Real Madrid were unable to capitalise on that slip-up when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Valencia on Sunday.

Los Blancos needed a 95th-minute Karim Benzema goal just to rescue that point and stay level with Barcelona, avoiding what would have been only their second league defeat of the season.

Barcelona, by contrast, have already been beaten three times in the league this season, although only one of those has come since September and they go into Wednesday's match having lost just one of their last 17 across all competitions.

Nonetheless, speculation over Ernesto Valverde’s future as manager is a regular feature of the Spanish press, and reports that the club have lined up a return for Pep Guardiola at the end of the season will not have helped matters.

Real Madrid will be coming up against Guardiola and his Manchester City team in the last 16 of the Champions League as they look to re-establish themselves as the kings of Europe, but their status as the best in Spain yet alone the best in the continent has been in question for much of the recent era. (Sports Mole)

•PHOTO: Real Madrid and Barcelona players

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 18, 2019

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