May 9, 2025

El Clásico –The Fight for the Spanish Title

The title fight in Spain could go down to the wire this season, especially with Barcelona crashing out of the CL semi-finals at the hands of Inter Milan in mid-week. Let’s take a closer look at this weekend’s ‘El Clásico’!

Real Madrid will be hoping to take advantage of a tired and downbeat Barca this weekend at Camp Nou as they look to haul their way back into the race for the ultimate prize. With four games left to play the season, the gap currently stands at just four points. That means a win for Los Blancos would bring them within a point of their bitter rivals. Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about one of the biggest El Clásicos in recent years, including team news, predictions, odds, and more.

The Venue

Camp Nou – Sunday 11 May. Kick-off: 16:15 local time

The Camp Nou – meaning New Field – was built back in 1957. It is currently under renovation to extend the capacity to a gigantic 105,000, making it the largest stadium in Spain and the third-largest football stadium in the world. It has hosted two CL finals and five WC matches in its time, as well as numerous El Clásicos throughout the years. However, Real Madrid have got the better over Barca in their own stadium in recent years, claiming three wins from the last four La Liga matches at the Camp Nou. Barcelona need to avoid making it four in five to maintain their healthy gap at the top of the table.

Team News and Injury News

Let’s take a look at some of the team and injury news as we head into the biggest El Clásico of the season:

Barcelona: Barcelona look pretty healthy coming into the El Clásico this weekend, but Hansi Flick will likely be worried about fatigue after such an intense battle with Inter Milan on Tuesday night. Marc Bernal is expected to be out until June with a cruciate ligament tear. Marc Casado, Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde are close to returning from their respective ligament and hamstring injuries, but this game may come a week or two too early. Pablo Torre completes the list of absentees for Barca, with the attacking midfield struggling with a knee problem. Fortunately, the league leaders welcomed back Robert Lewandowski on Tuesday, but going to extra-time in one of the most end-to-end European matches of all time will do the Barcelona legs no favours.

Real Madrid: Los Blancos are swimming in injuries at the moment. Heading into the biggest must-win game of the season, you ideally want to have a full squad to choose from, but that is far from the case for Real Madrid. Daniel Carvajal and Eder Militao are both out until August with cruciate ligament tears, while Eduardo Camavinga and Antonio Rudiger will be missing until June with their respective injuries. Rodrygo, David Alaba, and Ferland Mendy can also be added to the treatment table, leaving Madrid particularly short on first-team regulars across the back four. However, one thing they do have on their side is fitness, having had a full week to prepare for this game.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid – Players to Watch

It’s the El Clásico… there are players to watch all over the pitch! For Barcelona, keep an eye on how the front three bounce back from long minutes and a heartbreaking defeat on Tuesday night. If their attacking trio and co can hit the ground running against a depleted Real Madrid defence, it could be a real area of concern for Los Blancos. At the other end of the pitch, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, and Jude Bellingham will all be hoping to take advantage of tired Barca legs to score plenty of goals of their own. However, this game could very much be won or lost in the engine room, which is where fatigue often comes home to roost. Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, and Dani Ceballos up against Frenkie de Jong and Pedri could be a battle to watch on Sunday.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid – Head-to-Head Record

The overall record between Real Madrid and Barcelona is still agonisingly close. Los Blancos edge the tie with 106 wins to their name, but Barca are only four behind on 103, which is incredible after so many years of battling it out. There have been 51 draws in the history of this fixture. Real Madrid have netted 440 El Clásico goals to Barcelona’s 431. In the last ten fixtures across all competitions between these two giants of Spanish football, 41 goals have been scored. That averages out at more than four goals per game, which is shocking for any fixture. Last season, the El Clásico at the Camp Nou ended with a 2-1 win to Real Madrid.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid Form Guide

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid come into this tie with a fearsome form guide in La Liga. Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 14 La Liga fixtures, dating back to a 2-1 defeat at home to Atlético Madrid all the way back in December. In their last five games, they have won four and drawn one. Real have won their last four league matches, with their last defeat coming in a 2-1 home loss to Valencia in early April. However, the elephant in the room is that Barcelona beat Real Madrid in a high-profile game just last month. Hansi Flick led his side to a 3-2 Copa del Rey final victory, with goals from Pedri, Ferran Torres, and Jules Kounde. At the end of that game, Antonio Rudiger, Lucas Vazquez, and Jude Bellingham were all shown red cards.

Potential Implications

The implications could not be bigger for the last El Clásico of the season! If Barcelona win, they put one hand around the league trophy, extending the gap over Real Madrid to seven points with just three games remaining. A draw would leave Los Blancos four points behind and needing a big Barca slip-up – as well as a perfect record of their own – to leapfrog their rivals into first. A Real Madrid win, on the other hand, would bring Carlo Ancelotti and his players just one point behind Barcelona with three games remaining. Barca still have to play Espanyol away, Athletic Club Bilbao away, and Villarreal at home this season. Madrid have Mallorca and Real Sociedad at home, as well as Sevilla away.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid Odds

ArcitcBet is currently offering a wide range of odds on Barcelona vs Real Madrid ahead of this weekend’s top-of-the-table clash!

Barcelona to win: 1.98

Draw: 4.20

Real Madrid to win: 3.25

Last season, this fixture finished 1-2 to Madrid and you can get odds of 11.00 for that to happen again. A Barcelona 1-0 win comes with odds of 15.00, 2-0 is 13.00, 2-1 is 8.50 and 3-0 is 21.00. On the other hand, if you fancy Real to grab an away win, a 1-0 victory comes with odds of 21.00 or 2-0 will get you 26.00.

We also offer odds on the outright winner of La Liga this season:

  • Barcelona: 1.09
  • Real Madrid: 6.00
  • Atletico Madrid: 1000.00

You can browse ArcticBet’s full range of betting options for Barcelona vs Real Madrid HERE.

Score Prediction

This is going to be one of the most interesting El Clásicos in recent years. On the one hand, we have Barcelona as the league leaders with home advantage, but they also arrive into this match heavily fatigued after CL heartbreak. On the other hand, we have a well-rested Real Madrid, but Los Blancos are walking wounded with injuries. It has all the makings of a hard-to-predict, end-to-end, wild affair – the very best conditions for a memorable El Clásico.

Score prediction: Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid

Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.

Last updated: 09.05.25