La Liga El Clasico: Barcelona vs. Real Madrid Preview, Odds, Predictions

El Clasico is arguably the biggest game in soccer. This time Barcelona meets Real Madrid in La Liga, aiming to end the title race with a victory. With three points here, Blaugrana would increase the gap between themselves and the Los Blancos to 12 points. Meanwhile, Real had its chances to cut Barca’s edge, but some surprising results have denied the champs from making this title race more interesting. Ancelotti’s unit defeated Liverpool on Wednesday night and arrives in Barca high on morale, ready to take all three points on hostile territory. 

Preview

Barcelona  (+115) won three events in a row, all with the same result, 1-0. We wrote about the fact that Xavi’s gang doesn’t play thrilling and exciting soccer yet prefers to collect points at the expense of beauty. Following a slower start of the year, during which Barca still searched for the winning formula, they are now extremely competitive, so it’s no wonder they have nine points more than Real.

They beat Real in Madrid in Copa del Rey, then Valencia at home in La Liga before taking all three points from Bilbao. Prior to these three meetings, Barca had back-to-back losses against Manchester United and Almeria, but that didn’t leave any trace on their morale. 

Blaugrana has been without a loss at home since late October, posting six victories and two ties after that. In all the wins, Ter Stegen kept its net intact. 

Real Madrid (+230) defeated Liverpool on Wednesday night, 1-0, thus completing the Champions League round of 16 stage with a 6-2 win on aggregate against the Reds. Liverpool had more of an initiative, but in the end, the Los Blancos won.

Ancelotti’s crew posted back-to-back victories because they were better than Espanyol last weekend. Prior to it, we saw them failing to triumph in three in a row, two in La Liga, playing 1-1 at home against Real Madrid and 0-0 on the road vs. Betis. A 0-1 defeat to Barca in Copa del Rey was in between. 

The champs have two wins and losses plus one tie in the most recent five La Liga outings. When it comes to the efficiency of those contests, four in a row ended with under 2.5 hits. 

Latest News

Pedri and Ousmane Dembele are both out for this game. The two have been sidelined for a long time, and will remain that way until the end of March. 

David Alaba is injured for Real Madrid.

Head to Head Games

The first of two Copa del Rey semifinals games was played a little bit more than two weeks ago at Santiago Bernabeu, and Barca defeated the big rivals 0-1. Previously, they were better in Super Cup 1-3, yet Real won the first La Liga meeting, also in Madrid, 3-1. 

With these three contests, we saw 252 throughout history, with Real winning 101, Barca two fewer, and 52 concluded with a tie.

Prediction

Barcelona doesn’t have to rush anywhere, and one point from these 90 minutes would be more than satisfying for Blaugrana. Real’s games on the road are inefficient, as well as Barca’s, regardless of the venue, so the logical thing to do here is to pick under 2.5 scores.

Pick: Under 2.5 goals +100

Here are more previews

• Manchester United vs. Fulham
• Inter Milan vs. Juventus