Match Facts Prior to El Clasico, 2018 La Liga

Will it be the final nail in the coffin or the spark to catapult Julen Lopetegui’s Real Madrid coaching career? The result in El Clasico always offers more than just pride. There is no predicting how a match of this magnitude will unfold, but the statistics can lead us to potential themes to watch out for in the match:

• In their last 36 home La Liga matches, Barcelona have scored at least 2 goals.
• Barcelona have scored 2.5 goals in 23 of their last 26 matches against Real Madrid in all competitions.
• Real Madrid have scored at least 2 goals in 5 out of their last 6 matches against Barcelona.
• Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 5 games, while Real Madrid has won 1 game in their last 5 encounters.
• This will be the first Clasico since 2007 that will be without one of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. In 2007, Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the Camp Nou couretesy of a Julio Baptista goal.
• Real Madrid lead the Clasico rivalry with 95 victories vs 92 victories
• Benzema (9 goals) and Suarez (5 goals) are the leading Clasico scorer’s heading into Sunday’s match.
• In the last 5 league encounters, Madrid and Barcelona have only won once.
• Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, and Marc Ter-Stegen are the only three players to have played 100% of the minutes in La Liga.
• With an expected XI of: Courtois, Nacho, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Isco, Bale, and Benzema — Madrid’s average age is 28.5 years old
• With an expected XI of: Ter-Stegen, Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba, Busquets, Rakitic, Arthur, Coutinho, Rafinha, Suarez— Barcelona’s average age is 27.2 years old

Madrid will be hoping to replicate the result they had in 2007, the last time both Messi and Ronaldo were absent from the match. Ernesto Valverde has already warned his players against a “wounded” Madrid who will be out for blood. A victory for Madrid will blow the title race open even further.

(Statistics provided by Whoscored.com and Bet365)