Who will start for Barcelona in El Clasico / Image by SoccerNews.com
It’s been a rather frustrated season so far for the Spanish champions Barcelona who head into the Saturday’s El Clasico trailing their fierce rivals Real Madrid by six points.
Below-par Barcelona
For the full 13 La Liga rounds of the new 2016-17 season, the Catalans have displayed worrying lack of consistency, despite the fact their superstar Leo Messi is enjoying a rich vein of form on his own.
Three draws and two defeats are number that are well below Barcelona’s standards, whereas three stalemates in last three matches across all competitions could serve as a definite indicator of problems Luis Enrique needs to address as soon as possible.
Coming off from the 1-1 tie against Hercules in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, Luis Enrique is ready to ring changes to the second-string side that was on display in Alicante aware that highly-anticipated clash against Real Madrid could go on to become a season-changer for his team.
Anticipation Builds
Matches between Spain’s biggest clubs traditionally gain plenty of interest globally and the same is expected this Saturday. A chosen group will be given the opportunity to witness the game live at the stadium, but for the rest of the world El Clasico will be a TV delight.
Still, we are pretty much aware that not all of us countries will broadcast this highly-anticipated match which is why we did our best to provide you with a solution.
All you need to do is to follow THIS LINK and enjoy watching the game across Europe, United States and Canada as well, in a live stream across platforms and devices.
As we count down days, hours and minutes until the El Clasico, the Soccer News team has prepared a predicted line-up and formation Barcelona are expected to field on Saturday.
Our suggestion can be found below, but feel free to add your own:
Barcelona predicted line-up / Image by SoccerNews.com
Defence
German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is expected to retain his place between the sticks as he continues to strengthen his role of a first-choice goalkeeper following the departure of Claudio Bravo.
French defender Jeremy Mathieu and his compatriot Samuel Umtiti have both been ruled out for the Saturday’s clash and Luis Enrique is expected to go with the four-man wall consisting of Roberto, Pique, Mascherano and Alba.
Midfield
Sergio Busquets is expected to be given another vote of confidence from Barcelona boss Luis Enrique as the Spanish international midfielder looks set to start in the centre of the park alongside Croatian international Ivan Rakitic and the veteran midfielder Andres Iniesta.
The Barcelona captain returns to action from nearly two months of absence and his presence on the pitch will undoubtedly be a huge boost for the Catalans, who have struggled to keep control in the midfield without the seasoned star.
The Wold Cup winner is expected to link the dots together and be a unifying presence for his team in arguably the biggest game of the season so far.
Attack
The MSN triumvirate remains the bright spot of Luis Enrique’s side. The return of Messi, Suarez and Neymar to form after a poor showing at Anoeta would be a welcomed boost for the Catalans who very much need the win in order to close the gap behind La Liga leaders.
Leo Messi has scored 9 goals so far in the season, one more than his teammate Luis Suarez, whereas Neymars unselfish influence has been largely limited to assists before goals.
The Brazilian scored on four occasions, while he recorded five assists to his teammates.
Odds
Despite the poor stretch of form that has followed them for the last couple of weeks, the Catalans are made clear-cut favourites to get back to winning ways against Real Madrid.
Barcelona can be found at 17/20 betting odds to claim three points at Camp Nou.
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