Real Madrid hosts Barcelona in a pivotal El Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu, with LaLiga’s top spot on the line as stars like Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal prepare to clash.
Real Madrid have historically maintained an advantage for most of the time in their head-to-head matchup with Barcelona, dating to the 1930s. Since then, both clubs have had periods of sustained dominance in meetings with their rivals — Madrid in the 1960s, and Barça in the 1970s and ’80s. But the balance started to shift in the past 20 years, as Madrid’s head-to-head lead narrowed, starting with the Pep Guardiola era at Barça. Madrid posted only one win in 14 meetings in all competitions between 2008 and 2012, a spell that included legendary 6-2 and 5-0 wins in the fixture for Guardiola’s team, as well as a triumph in a UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Since then, it has been more even — Barça were unbeaten in seven Clásicos from 2017 to 2019, before Madrid went six undefeated between 2019 and 2022 — but Barça’s four victories last season leave them on the brink of matching Madrid in the all-time head-to-head. — Kirkland
Barcelona, slightly unexpectedly, ruled Madrid last season. There was uncertainty surrounding the Blaugrana at the start of the campaign, with no one really sure how new coach Flick would do with a young squad. Madrid, meanwhile, on the back of winning LaLiga and the Champions League, had added Kylian Mbappé to their squad.
But as often is the case in this fixture, logic did not prevail. Barça were superb in attack, racking up 16 goals in four victories against Madrid as they won both league meetings en route to the title, as well as final wins in the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Supercopa. At times, it felt as if they could score at will, especially in the final Clásico of the season, which effectively clinched the league title. After Mbappé had given Madrid a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes, Barça replied with four unanswered goals before the break.
That was very much a theme of Barça’s wins: lots of goals in short spurts. They also scored four in the second half at the Bernabéu last October, and four in the first half in the 5-2 Supercopa win in January. It ended 16-7 to Barça on aggregate over the course of the four fascinating and hugely entertaining games. Barça are now aiming to win five straight editions of the Clásico for only the second time in club history — 2008-10, under Guardiola, was the only other time. — Marsden