Spanish La Liga
2018-10-28 - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid
A Sports Betting Pick by Cruiser
Football: Spanish La Liga
28th October 2018 – Kickoff 17:15 [Barcelona, Spain Time]
Introduction:
This is the El Clasico and despite being played at an early stage this season, Barcelona have four points more then Real Madrid going into this match.
Barcelona are currently the leader in SPain with 18 points, while Real Madrid is in seventh spot with four points less.
Barcelona have suffered only one defeat in the league this season, while Real Madrid has lost three games so far this season and there has been talk that their coach Lopetegui services could be terminated anytime soon.
In the Champions League, Barcelona have achieved all wins, while Real Madrid have suffered one defeat.
FC Barcelona
Barcelona started their season well managing five wins in their first five matches. They managed to win four games in La Liga and the other in the Champions League. After that they hit a bad patch and failed to win their next four games in the Championships.
Barcelona had three draws in that run and one defeat which was against Leganes. The good thing for them was that none of their rivals took advantage of their slump and the only team that managed to come close to them was Sevilla whom they met in the last round.
Despite being under pressure they scored two goals and in the end they won the match by 4-2. This has brought them back to the top of the standings but they paid the price as Messi got injured in their last match and will definitely miss this match now. Messi was absent in their match with Inter Milan in the Champions League, but Barcelona still managed to win their third match in the group.
As for the team news, other then Messi, Umtiti and Vermaelen will also miss out due to injuries.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid is in crisis but they can be thankful they are only four points behind Barcelona going into this match. Real Madrid have failed to record a win in their last four matches and they are still trying to get a win before this match.
Real Madrid suffered three defeats in that run and two of them were against teams that they should have beaten easily, such as Alaves and Levante who had beaten them in Madrid.
In the Champions League things are not going well for them either. They have lost to CSKA Moscow but they did win their other two matches so they still have hope of making it to the knockout stages where they will aim to defend their title for the fourth time. They did not managed to outplayed Plzen in midweek as they only managed a slim win by 2-1.
Real Madrid have also gone four games without scoring and that is simply unheard of from such a big club of their reputation. No doubt that coach Lopetegui is under pressure to avoid defeat here and also to save his job. It is obvious that Real Madrid are not the same team this season without the services of Cristiano Ronaldo.
As for the team news, Real Madrid will not have the services of Carvajal who is injured.
Past Meetings:
Last season when they met at the Nou Camp it ended in a 2-2 draw.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
FC Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid
