Real Madrid, after all the controversy surrounding their battle with the referees, play Barcelona on Saturday night in an attempt to win some sort of silverware.
This would be the third of a total of four meetings between the two sides this season. Real Madrid lost both games in embarrassing fashion, trailing 4-0 at home in LaLiga and losing the Supercopa final 5-2 in Saudi Arabia. Real Madrid and Barcelona are due to play in just over two weeks in a potential LaLiga decider.
Real Madrid, in spite of a gut-wrenching 5-1 aggregate loss to Arsenal in the Champions League, have won their last three La Liga games.
They have looked like a laboured team, winning all those games by a margin of one goal, but they have looked slightly better in these last two games, where they beat Athletic Club and Getafe.
Barcelona have lost their striker Robert Lewandowski to injury, but it still has not stopped them from wiping teams away as, apart from a loss to Dortmund (in which they won the overall tie), they have not lost a game in 2025.
Their last three results, apart from the loss have been similar to Real Madrid - just a goal's difference in all three wins - a 4-3 win over Celta Vigo, sandwiched by 1-0 victories over Leganes and Mallorca.
Real Madrid vs Barcelona: El Clasico preview, prediction & lineups
Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Head-to-head record (last five games)
Date | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|
12 January 2025 | Real Madrid 2-5 Barcelona | Supercopa |
26 October 2024 | Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona | LaLiga |
21 April 2024 | Real Madrid 3-2 Barcelona | LaLiga |
14 January 2024 | Barcelona 1-4 Real Madrid | Supercopa |
28 October 2023 | Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid | LaLiga |
Real Madrid team news
Real Madrid are without the services of three players. Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal have been injured for the longest time, and are out for the remainder of the season.
Eduardo Camavinga picked up a recent injury that ruled him out until the 2025-26 season as well, so Real Madrid are a little shorthanded, although not as much as before as Ferland Mendy, David Alaba and Kylian Mbappe have all returned for this big tie.
Predicted lineup: Courtois; Valverde, Asencio, Rudiger, Mendy; Tchouameni, Dani Ceballos, Luka Modric, Jude Bellingham; Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe
Barcelona team news
Barcelona have picked up a few injuries over the last few weeks. Marc Bernal has been out all season, while Marc Casado picked up a season-ending injury of his own in the last few weeks.
Robert Lewandowski and Alejandro Balde are out for the fixture too. Meanwhile, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen returns to the squad after recovering from an ACL injury that kept him out for a very long time.
Predicted lineup: Szczęsny; Kounde, Inigo Martinez, Cubarsi, Fort; Frenkie De Jong, Gavi, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres, Raphinha
Real Madrid vs Barcelona prediction
Real Madrid have struggled all season, and especially against Barcelona, as they are behind in an aggregate scoreline of 9-2.
Saying that, however, Real Madrid generally do look good in finals, and even though they lost the last final they played against Barcelona, they will at least try to be a bit more defensive than they have been this season.
Barcelona are also missing two of their crucial starters in Lewandowski and Balde, which could favour Real Madrid ever so slightly.