'Mini Clasico' is how Spanish national daily sports newspaper Mundo Deportivo is labelling today's game at the Nou Camp. 

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Two days before a big league game you might expect a manager to wrap his players in cotton wool. Not Louis Enrique.

On Friday the Barcelona boss "surprised" his players and their families with a day out at a nearby theme park. 

"The coaching staff’s philosophy holds that unconventional days like these are part of the team’s training," said a statement on Barcelona's website., external

I wonder if it will catch on in the Premier League? 

Will Lionel Messi be back in time for El Clasico? 

The Barcelona goal machine is recovering "very well" from his knee injury, according to boss Luis Enrique. 

Asked how Messi's recovery was going, Enrique said on Saturday "Very well. Is that too short an answer? With Messi we're much stronger, no doubt about it, but we have a great team and lots of resources -- we've taken a step forward. Behind it all is some serious hard work."

Roberto Soldado might have struggled to justify his £26m price tag at Tottenham but the 30-year-old Spanish striker appears to be enjoying his game again now he is back in his homeland. Soldado, who began his career at Real Madrid, has scored four goals in 12 games since joining Villarreal from Spurs for a reported £7m in August. He sparked his side's 2-1 comeback win away to Dinamo Minsk in the Europa League on Thursday by equalising from the penalty spot.

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Keeper Claudio Bravo returns to the Barcelona side in place Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who was between the posts for the Champions League win over BATE Borisov in midweek.

Barcelona XI: Bravo, Alves, Pique, Mathieu, Alba, Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Iniesta, El Haddadi Suarez, Neymar.

Former Tottenham forward Roberto Soldado starts for Villarreal.

Villarreal XI: Areola; Mario, Bonera, Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa, Jonathan, Bruno, Pina, Castillejo, Denis, Soldado.

We'll be building up to Barca's match first. Luis Enrique's side will leapfrog Real at the summit, if only for a few hours, providing they sink the Yellow Submarine.

Team news from the Nou Camp coming up.

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Real Madrid and Barcelona are level on points at the top of La Liga, just the way we like it before the two giants are due to meet.

The two superpowers both have tricky tests to negotiate before they lock horns.

Barcelona host fifth-placed Villarreal (15:00 GMT) before Real's unbeaten league start is put to the test at Sevilla (19:30 GMT).

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It's one of the greatest occasions in the sporting calendar. The global television audience will be colossal, the stakes sky high and the hyperbole off the scale.

One of the biggest club fixtures in world football is 13 days away but the countdown to Real Madrid against Barcelona is already under way.

The La Liga rivals, neck and neck at the top of the table with only goal difference separating the two, have one last opportunity to send out a message of intent to their arch enemy before hostilities resume after the international break at the Bernabeu on 21 November. 

It's the calm before the El Clasico storm.