Bitter rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid will lock horns in the first Clasico of the 2020-21 campaign on Saturday afternoon, with both sides looking to bounce back from La Liga defeats last time out.
Barca lost 1-0 away to Getafe in their last league encounter on October 17, while reigning champions Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to newly-promoted Cadiz.
The Catalan giants started the current campaign with back-to-back victories, but they have since picked up just one point.
Before the international break, they drew 1-1 at home against Sevilla and that has been followed by a surprise 1-0 loss at Getafe.
They are presently ninth on the table with seven points, but have two games in hand over leaders Real Sociedad, who are four points ahead.
Barcelona vs Real Madrid Head-to-head (h2h)
Teams Barcelona Real Madrid played so far 61 matches.
Barcelona won 24 direct matches. Real Madrid won 19 matches. 18 matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches both teams scored a 3.15 goals per Match.
Barcelona vs Real Madrid Prediction
Barcelona in actual season average scored 2.50 goals per match. In 5 (100.00%) matches played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 4 (80.00%) matches in season 2020 played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.
Real Madrid average scored 2.00 goals per match in season 2020. In 2 (66.67%) matches played away was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 1 (33.33%) matches played away team was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.
Team News:
Barca will again be without the services of number one goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen due to a knee injury, meaning that Neto will continue between the sticks for Koeman's side.
Samuel Umtiti is again expected to be absent with ongoing knee issues, but Jordi Alba could be back in the XI on Saturday, having trained with his teammates on Thursday as he looks to overcome a hamstring problem.
Whether Koeman feels that there is a risk starting the Spaniard remains to be seen, but the fact that he trained alongside his teammates two days before the game suggests that a return is a huge possibility; a spot on the bench looks to be the likely outcome, though, suggesting that Sergino Dest could again get the nod on the left.
Sergio Busquets is expected to return in midfield, having been named on the bench against Ferencvaros, but Trincao could again keep out Griezmann on the left of the attack.
Trincao was impressive in the European win, and the fact that he was withdrawn in the 63rd minute of the contest suggests that he will be used from the start against Madrid, particularly as Griezmann is still struggling to show his best form.
As for the visitors, Hazard, Dani Carvajal and Martin Odegaard are definitely unavailable through injury, while Mariano Diaz and Alvaro Odriozola are unlikely to be fit for the contest.
Club captain Ramos trained alone on Thursday as he builds to overcome the knee injury that forced him to miss out against Shakhtar, but the Spaniard is expected to be in the XI on Saturday afternoon.
Vinicius Junior, Toni Kroos and Benzema are all likely to come into the starting side following the Shakhtar clash, while Nacho could get the nod at right-back with Ferland Mendy moving across to left-back.
Zidane does not have too many options for change, though, and Luka Modric and Casemiro should both keep their positions in the middle of the park.
Standings La Liga:
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