Real Madrid vs Barcelona Betting Tips

Barcelona hold a 3 point advantage on their great rivals going into the game and have had the better of the recent meetings between the sides particularly in the league. They’ve won 9 of the last 14 meetings between the clubs in La Liga and 3 of the last 4 but were beaten 3-1 on their visit to the Bernabeu in October last year.

Goals are always like whenever these two meet. One telling statistic is that both teams have scored in all of the last 18 competitive matches between the sides in a sequence stretching back over 4 years. This is Rafa Benitez’s first match against Barca as Real Madrid boss and although he is slowly stamping his mark on Los Blancos, it’s unlikely we will see much other than primarily attacking football from both sides again here so goals are certainly likely.

The former Valencia, Liverpool and Napoli boss tasted defeat for the first time as Real Madrid manager last time out as his side suffered a 3-2 defeat at Sevilla meaning they go into El Clasico in 2nd place behind their rivals.

Despite holding top spot, Barcelona haven’t been entirely convincing themselves though this season. They’ve been heavily reliant on Neymar and Luis Suarez for goals in recent weeks. The pair have incredibly netted all of Barclona’s last 20 goals and you have to go back 2 months to Marc Bartra’s goal against Levante for the last time another player scored.

Leo Messi has returned to training this week but with Neymar and Suarez in such form and with the Argentine lacking match fitness he may start this one on the bench. Of greater concern for Luis Enrique has been the other end of the pitch, where the stronger sides have tended to expose their defensive weaknesses so far this season.

They conceded 4 in a defeat in Vigo, 4 away to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup and have let in 6 goals in their 2 meetings with Sevilla so far this term. There are 6 sides in La Liga with better defensive records than them and they’ve tended to struggle against sides who’ve attempted to be positive and really get at their defence, which Real Madrid unquestionably will do.

Ivan Rakitic, who has developed into a key player for them and offers their defence some protection, could also be missing in this game and given Real Madrid have all their attacking players back from early season injuries besides Karim Benzema, they are likely to pose the Catalans plenty of problems.

Real Madrid have scored 2 or more goals in all of their last 3 home games against Barcelona and backing them to do likewise again here at 5/6 looks like a solid bet.

That alone might not necessarily be enough to win the game though. This Barca side has proved time and time again this year that they are a class act and with Neymar and Suarez banging in the goals and Leo Messi potentially making his return, then 2 or more goals for the visitors certainly can’t be ruled out either.

It should be a cracking game with goals at both ends and a 2-2 draw looks an attractive bet in the correct score market at 9/1.

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