Barcelona dropped points for the fifth time this season last weekend, drawing 1-1 with Real Sociedad at Anoeta. It was a dreadful performance from the champions, who were second best in every department and extremely fortunate to pick up a single point after being comprehensively outplayed all evening. A vast improvement will be needed if Barcelona are to take anything from their upcoming encounter with Madrid; there are clear problems with the Catalans at present, though, namely the structure of their midfield and a lack of coherence and balance throughout the team as a whole.
Things are looking significantly brighter for Real Madrid, who extended their lead at the summit of the standings to six points with a 2-1 victory over Sporting Gijon last Saturday. Zinedine Zidane’s men were far from their best at the Santiago Bernabeu but it was important that they got the job done, with los Blancos now unbeaten in their last 25 La Liga encounters stretching back to last season. Another triumph this weekend could effectively knock Barcelona out of the race for the title, which is quite the incentive for a club who have only claimed one championship crown since 2008.
Barcelona will have to make do without left-back Jordi Alba, but Andres Iniesta, Samuel Umtiti and Jeremy Mathieu have all returned to full training after injury lay-offs and could be in contention for a starting spot. Iniesta's presence in the XI would be a major boost for Barca, who have been uncharacteristically poor in the centre of the park in recent weeks. Up front, the front three of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi will be relied upon to produce moments of magic if Barcelona are to emerge victorious against the current league leaders.
Madrid, meanwhile, will be unable to call upon the services of midfielder Toni Kroos, striker Alvaro Morata and forward Gareth Bale, with Zinedine Zidane perhaps tempted to employ a 4-2-3-1 rather than a 4-3-3 formation as a result. That was the system the former France international used in the defeat of Sporting last time out, with Karim Benzema up front, Mateo Kovacic and Luka Modric in midfield and Lucas Vazquez, James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo in the line of three. Isco and Casemiro will probably come into the team after being left on the bench on Saturday, while Marcelo will almost certainly replace Nacho at left-back.
On balance, it is probably worth backing Barcelona to come out on top against their biggest rivals on Saturday afternoon; Madrid have certainly been in better form so far this season, but the fact that the Catalans simply cannot afford to lose could tip the balance in their favour. A 2-1 home victory may therefore be an astute choice in the correct scoreline market, with Neymar a relatively good value option to score the first goal of the game.
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