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Real Madrid visit the Camp Nou and for the first time in two years, the first El Clasico in La Liga season will be a crucial and relevant game. Los Blancos were many points behind Barça in the table for the past two seasons and their chances of overcoming that deficit and compete for the title were very slim. This time, both sides are even on points and it seems that they will battle for the trophy until the very last week of the season.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are mostly healthy for this game, apart from the injury Eden Hazard picked up during Madrid’s home match against PSG, which will force him to miss what would’ve been his first El Clasico.
Coach Zinedine Zidane has many options to choose from to replace Hazard. Bale, Rodrygo, Isco and Vinicius are competing for the two spots on Real’s wings and the French coach could also deploy a 4-4-2 formation with Casemiro, Valverde, Kroos and Modric in the midfield with two strikers —Benzema and either Bale or Rodrygo— upfront. His decision will be crucial.
Real Madrid projected XI: Courtois, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Mendy, Casemiro, Kroos, Valverde, Rodrygo, Bale, Benzema.
Barcelona projected XI: Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Rakitic, De Jong, Messi, Griezmann, Suarez.
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM EL CLASICO
Date: 12/18/2019
Time: 20:00 CEST (local time), 02:00pm EST.
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain.
Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), Movistar La Liga (Spain)
Available Streaming: BeIN Sports Connect (USA), Fubo.TV (USA).
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