El Clasico preview: Lionel Messi and co. look to continue El Clasico winning streak

When the LaLiga fixtures were announced prior to the start of the season, all eyes were on October 26 - the scheduled date for the first of the two El Clasico meetings between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Tensions in Catalonia meant that the game was pushed to mid-December. However, after a long wait, the El Clasico fixture is finally upon us as Real Madrid head to Camp Nou to face off against Barcelona on Wednesday, December 18 (12:30 am IST). 

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El Clasico preview: Real Madrid, Barcelona fresh off draws

Barcelona made it through to the Champions League Round of 16 in convincing fashion.They  topped a group loaded with the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan. Real Madrid, on the other hand, managed to scrape through their group in second place. European form aside, both sides have been relatively disappointing in the LaLiga. Last weekend's LaLiga fixtures saw Barcelona limp to a 2-2 draw against Real Sociedad despite taking a lead after half-time. Their El Clasico rivals Real Madrid were up against a Valencia side that topped their Champions League group. Zinedine Zidane's side managed to draw against Valencia, albeit without the services of Brazilian defensive midfielder Casemiro. 

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Barcelona's front three of Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are showing some signs of fluidity in attack in the last couple of weeks. While Griezmann did admit to being short on confidence after moving to Barcelona in the summer, the French World Cup winner has been picking up some form. He was on the scoresheet against his former club Real Sociedad as he netted the equaliser before half-time. Recent history favours Barcelona, considering that Madrid last registered a win in an El Clasico fixture way back in 2017. However, Real Madrid are beginning to gather some momentum in the last couple of weeks. 

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Barcelona vs Real Madrid team news

Casemiro missed out against Valencia owing to the fact that the Brazilian was one yellow card away from missing the game against Barcelona. He will, however, be back in contention for the El Clasico. Eden Hazard will have to wait to feature in his first El Clasico fixture as the Belgian talisman has been ruled out of the game. Lucas Vasquez, Marcelo, James Rodriguez and Marco Asensio are the rest of the missing names from the Real Madrid squad. Barcelona, meanwhile, will be without the services of Ousmane Dembele and Arthur Melo. 

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