Madrid to Host Top Teams of the Spanish Football Championship

Real Madrid and Barcelona, the current leaders of the Spanish football championship will meet at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on October 26, in what promises to be an intense match.
It was ten years ago that the rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid represented a duel between the world’s best footballers, namely Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Today both clubs have their own stars; Barcelona is now headed by Lamine Yamal, while Kylian Mbappé leads the Madrid team.
Yamal has had some issues with injuries this season, and thus has not been at his full potential. Mbappé has also had a strong season, and is currently leading the scoring table of the Spanish Championship with 10 goals and 2 assists in nine games.


Standings in the Competition

As the competition approaches its climax, both teams enter into this head-to-head encounter in first and second place in the standings of the Spanish Championship. After nine rounds of play, Real Madrid has accumulated 24 points and is sitting atop the standings, while Barcelona is just two points behind.


Injuries

David Alaba and Antonio – ps-aws.com

David Alaba and Antonio Rüdiger will miss the upcoming match for Real Madrid because of injury. As far as Barcelona is concerned, they have a long list of injured players that will be missing when they meet Real Madrid; goalkeeper Joan Garcia, goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, midfielder Gavi, midfielder Dani Olmo, Ballon D’or contender winger Raphinha, and striker Robert Lewandowski.
Hansi Flick will also be missing the match for Barcelona. Last weekend, he received a red card in the match against Sevilla and thus will be banned from coaching during the next match. Barcelona attempted to overturn the referee’s decision to ban Flick but La Liga made no exceptions

“They Cheat and They Complain”

Last week, Lamine Yamal criticized Real Madrid, comparing them to a rival from the Spanish sports media (La Liga). Yamal claims that Real Madrid cheat and complain all the time. This criticism did not sit well with Real Madrid players. Right back Dani Carvajal stated that he would like to talk to Yamal about his comments.


First Coaching Experience

Xabi Alonso – 365dm.com

In the summer, Carlo Ancelotti left Real Madrid after six seasons, and was replaced by former player Xabi Alonso. This will be Alonso’s first experience as head coach in the highly charged atmosphere of El Clasico. Although Alonso is new as head coach of Real Madrid, he has a great deal of experience playing for the club in big matches against Barcelona.

Historical Data

Since their first encounter in 1902, the teams have faced each other a total of 261 times in all competitions. Real Madrid has emerged victorious 105 times and Barcelona has 104 victories. There have been 52 draws.

In the past season, Barcelona won four out of five encounters against Real Madrid. The most recent encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu resulted in a resounding 4-0 win for Barcelona.

The total goal difference between the two teams in all encounters is 443-432 in favor of Real Madrid. The record goal scorer in El Clasico is Lionel Messi who scored 18 goals in 29 matches.