El Clasico: Real Madrid beat Barcelona

1. Vinicius becomes youngster Clasico goalscorer in 21st century
2. Mariano scores with first touch of season in La Liga
3. Real go one point clear at top

Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz has overseen one Clasico before - showing 11 yellow cards as Barca beat Real 2-1 in March 2015.

I know you're not meant to admit it probably but I loved El Clasico when half the teams were getting booked or sent off.

Reuters

KICK-OFF

El ClasiKO.

The players are out on the pitch and we're almost ready to go in El Clasico.

Quique Setien is the only manager to win two La Liga games against Zinedine Zidane. His Real Betis beat Madrid in September 2017 and May 2019.

'More important for Real than for us'

Today is Barcelona manager Quique Setien's first Clasico. He replaced the sacked Ernesto Valverde in January, but never played for Barca during his career.

He thinks this game is more important for Real Madrid.

"This game is important for us because of the advantage we could get. For them it's a key game, maybe not decisive, but more important than for us because if we win we'll go five points clear."

On Barca's good Clasico form, he said: "In these games the past is forgotten. It's a Clasico, both teams will always give their all regardless of the situation they're in.

"I'm expecting a tightly contested game, very evenly matched. And it's a question of who gets things right to win the game."

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'Delicate moment' for Real Madrid

Real manager Zinedine Zidane says his side are in a "delicate moment".

Madrid's 2-1 home defeat by Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday was their third consecutive game without a win in all competitions. Their last home win was a month ago, against city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Zidane said: "What we need to ensure is our mood is positive. It's by sticking together that we're going to get out of this and not listening to what's being said.

"What we need is for our fans to be with us from the first minute to the 90th. I can understand if they are frustrated or annoyed, but we need them."

Zidane hopes his side can play as they did against City - except for the closing minutes when they conceded twice.

"Anything can happen in a game against such good opposition, but the important thing is how we react and we'll have to play how we did for 78 minutes against Manchester City," he said.

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Get Involved

Anon: It will be an interesting game. Both teams haven't been at their best recently but I think Real need this more

Grant: One of those fixtures where you wish both teams could lose.

Good omens for Barcelona

Barcelona are unbeaten in their last seven Clasicos against Real, winning four and drawing three. Real have never gone eight Clasicos without winning.

Barca have won their last four Clasicos at the Bernabeu in La Liga, becoming the only team to win four consecutive away games against Real Madrid in the competition's history.

Sergio Ramos extends his record as the player to feature in most Clasicos - 44.

Lionel Messi moves second onto the list with 43, moving above Xavi.

Quiz: Can you name El Clasico kids?

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Could you recognise some Clasico players from a childhood photograph?

Click here to play the quiz - and good luck!

'Barca performances have made Real's look better'

Julien Laurens

European football expert on BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday

Barca have had troubles with Ernesto Valverde being replaced by Quique Setien. Their away form has been poor. That’s helped Real Madrid.

The average performances of Barca have made Real performances look better than they have been. Although they have looked solid apart from Levante and Manchester City.

There are a lot of things to fix - with or without Zinedine Zidane. But they have enough in that team to cause problems to Barcelona.

Real spent a lot of money in the summer. Eden Hazard has been injured. But they also signed Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy, Eder Miliato, all those young players – which was part of the rebuilding to an ageing squad. But among them only Mendy has worked out. The others haven’t worked out. Zidane is to blame for that.

On Thursday's BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily podcast, they discussed whether this is the end of an era for Real Madrid.

Listen here.

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Tweet or text your thoughts in on this game. If you want.

The key questions in pivotal Clasico

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Read Andy West's preview of El Clasico including asking whether managers Zinedine Zidane and Quique Setien will pursue cautious control or take risks to find penalty box penetration.

What does future hold for Messi?

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Lionel Messi sees things on the same level as a coach. On one glorious and exceedingly rare occasion when he was going to come on from the bench against Sevilla, former manager Ernesto Valverde put his arm around him as if to give him instructions before effectively saying to him: "You know best, go out there and do what you like."

Making sure he gets the best out of Messi will be current manager Quique Setien's main job, just as it was Valverde's. Unfortunately he will face the same problems - namely trying to keep Messi on side with a team that has lost many of those elements that made it such a force in the past.

Messi understands the team is not playing well and there is a transition into what Setien wants to do at the club, which is different to what Valverde wanted.

He is trying to recover their high-pressure game, where they work to recover lost possession within five or six seconds. To change that is not merely a change of tactics or mentality, but also a physical change which requires the level of fitness to be able to do it.

Read Balague's column here

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Team news

Real Madrid make two changes from their defeat by Manchester City. Midfielder Toni Kroos and left-back Marcelo replace Luka Modric and Ferland Mendy.

Gareth Bale is among the substitutes.

Barcelona also make two changes from their Champions League game, a 1-1 draw at Napoli. Jordi Alba is back from a thigh problem and replaces Junior Firpo. Arthur takes the place of Ivan Rakitic.

Martin Braithwaite is on the bench.

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Tight at the top

Barcelona are two points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. So Real could be top by 22:00 GMT - or Barca could be five clear.

To add to that, La Liga goes down to head to head before goal difference - and they drew 0-0 at the Nou Camp.

So that means the winners of today's game - if one side do win - would win La Liga if they end up level on points.

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Welcome to El Clasico

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El Clasico may not have quite the same hype as it did a few years ago - no Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar, no Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho, no Pepe rolling around the place.

The teams are a bit more ordinary these days too.

But this is still El Clasico and it's still one of the great rivalries in world football. And this could prove crucial in the title race.