El Clásico Preview: Barcelona vs Real Madrid, October 25

The first El Clásico of the season kicks off tonight, October 25, at 21:00 Prague time, when Barcelona host Real Madrid at Camp Nou on La Liga matchday 10. The hosts arrive as leaders with a perfect record, while the visitors sit third, six points behind.

The table before kick-off

Hansi Flick's side have won all nine league games for 27 points, five clear of Atlético Madrid. They thrashed Real Betis 5-2 last weekend, but on Tuesday lost 4-2 to PSG in the Champions League, their first defeat of the season.

José Mourinho's Real Madrid are third on 21 points after league defeats to Atlético and Betis. Their recent form is strong, though: a 4-1 win over Sevilla in La Liga and a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League, where they have three wins from three.

Team news

• Barcelona: Dani Olmo, Roony Bardghji, Andreas Christensen and Eric García are injured. Jules Koundé is a major doubt with an ankle problem.
• Real Madrid: Vinícius Júnior is suspended. Rodrygo and Raúl Asencio are out injured.

All eyes will be on Lamine Yamal for the hosts and Kylian Mbappé for the visitors.

Stats and odds

Barcelona have won six of the last seven meetings in all competitions and have not lost at home to Real since October 2023. Last season's Clásico at Camp Nou ended 2-0 to Barcelona. The Opta supercomputer gives Barcelona a 54.4% chance of winning, with 19.5% for a draw and 26.1% for Real Madrid.

Flick said that while only three points are formally at stake, the match means far more. For Mourinho it is a return to the Clásico on the Real bench, where he has already taken charge of 17 of these games.

What is at stake

A home win would put Barcelona nine points clear of Real Madrid as early as October. An away win would cut the gap to three and reopen the title race. We will publish the result and match report right after the final whistle.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Sports Mole, Yahoo Sports. Photo: Tsutomu Takasu, CC BY 2.0