Real Madrid vs Barcelona: La Liga Match Preview, Predicted Line-ups and Dream11 Predictions

Real Madrid vs Barcelona is, here again, the first Classico of the season, with both super clubs with 22 points on top of the table.

Match Details:

• When: Sunday, October 16, 2022, at 7:45 pm.
• Where: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
• How to Watch: Voot and Sports18 Khel

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Match Preview

Seven wins and one draw out of eight games. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona boast identical records in La Liga and face off on Sunday in an eagerly-anticipated El Clasico at the Bernabeu.

Both of these famous rivals have been near-perfect in the league. Barca have won every game since being held to a goalless draw at home by Rayo Vallecano on the opening game of the season.

Since then, they went on a run of battering teams, but the goals have dried up recently and they have only won their last couple of league games against Mallorca and Celta Vigo by a goal to nil.

Real Madrid looked like they were going to steamroll every team in the league, until ten-man Osasuna held out for a point at the start of the month. Since then, they beat city rivals Getafe 1-0.

But neither side can take a huge amount of confidence from their midweek displays in the Champions League.

Madrid needed a goal deep into injury time to rescue a point in Poland against a Shakhtar Donetsk side whose preparation was hampered by the sound of air raid sirens.

Barca needed Robert Lewandowski to dig them out of a hole against Inter Milan in a 3-3 draw at the Nou Camp and they have won only once in the group.

Recent Head-to-Head:

Real Madrid have had an edge over Barcelona in the El Clasico duels. But in the mot recent clash in March 2022, it was the Catalans who had the last laugh as they thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doing the star turn by scoring a brace in a demolition at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The first El Clasico of the 2021-22 season saw Real prevailing over Barca 2-1 at Camp Nou. David Alaba's first goal for Los Blancos was timely and brilliant, before Lucas Vazquez and Sergio Aguero traded stoppage time goals for the 2-1 final score. That win in October, 2021, was the fourth El Clasico win in a row for Real Madrid, the first time it had happened since 1965.

Key Facts:

• Real Madrid have won their last two games against Barcelona in all competitions, last winning three in row against them in 1978 (all three in LaLiga).
• After winning 3-1 in the reverse fixture this season, Real Madrid are looking to complete a league double over Barcelona for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
• Barcelona have won five of their last seven away games against Real Madrid in all competitions (L2), though they lost last time out, 0-2 in LaLiga in March 2020 – they lost two in a row for the last time away from home in 2008, under Frank Rijkaard.
• Real Madrid have only lost one of their last 19 LaLiga games (W14 D4), 1-2 vs Levante in January 2021, after losing three of their previous six in the competition (W2 D1).
• Barcelona have won their last nine away LaLiga games and could win 10 in a row away from home in a single season for the third time in their history – 10 in January 2011 under Pep Guardiola and 10 in January 2013 under Tito Vilanova and Jordi Roura.
• Only Bayern Munich (15), Inter Milan (14) and Montpellier (14) have scored more headed goals than Real Madrid (13) in the top five European leagues this season.
• Karim Benzema has scored at least one goal in each of his last six LaLiga games (eight goals in total) and could become the fourth Real Madrid player to score in seven or more in a row in the competition in the 21st century after Ruud van Nistelrooy (2007), Cristiano Ronaldo (four times) and Gareth Bale (2018).
• Barcelona's Lionel Messi is the top scorer in El Clásico in all competitions (26) and in LaLiga (18, but he has failed to score in his last six games against Real Madrid, equalling his longest run without scoring against them in all competitions – six between April 2014 and December 2016.
• Karim Benzema has failed to score in his last nine appearances against Barcelona in all competitions, his longest run without scoring against a single opponent as a Real Madrid player.
• If Barcelona lose this game, Ronald Koeman will become the first Blaugrana manager to lose his first two LaLiga games against Real Madrid since Joaquim Rifé in 1980 (two).

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Players to watch

Two of the world's best goalscorers go head-to-head here. Karim Benzema is remarkably on a five-game scoring drought and has failed to score since August.

Robert Lewandowski scored a double in the last eight minutes against Inter Milan in midweek to take his tally to 14 goals in 14 games for club and country this season.

Predicted Line-ups:

Real Madrid Predicted XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr

Barcelona Predicted XI: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, E Garcia, Balde; Gavi, Busquets, Pedri; Dembele, Lewandowski, Fati

RM vs BAR: Dream11 Predictions: