Sunday night showdown for Barcelona´s first Clasico under Setien

Quique Setien’s first LaLiga Clasico as Barcelona boss has been handed a Sunday evening slot on March 1.

The visit to Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium could be a pivotal moment in the race for the LaLiga title, and the kick-off at 21:00 local time should allow both sides to recover from midweek efforts in the Champions League.

Barcelona have an away clash against Napoli on Tuesday, February 25, and Madrid are at home to Manchester City the following night.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas made the Clasico announcement at an event in London on Wednesday, with the match timing picked to ensure maximum global exposure on television.

Barcelona lead the way in LaLiga, but they are only ahead of Madrid on goal difference, with both sides sitting on 40 points from 19 matches.

Tebas said: “It will be 8pm UK time and I think there aren’t any other matches at this time so it will be a great slot. We want to be as visible as possible and we are getting there.”

#OnThisDay Zidane scored his unique and magical hat-trick.

Zinedine Zidane making us wonder if it was even real.
#LaLigaHistory pic.twitter.com/b8IF5wlL8H

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) January 15, 2020

The season’s first Clasico at Camp Nou was postponed from October because of concerns about civil unrest, stemming from pro-independence activists protesting against the jailing of nine Catalan politicians.

It eventually went ahead on December 18 and finished in a 0-0 draw.

The sacking of Ernesto Valverde and appointment of Setien – a former Atletico Madrid player – as his successor at Barcelona on Monday means there will be a different face in the opposite dugout to Zinedine Zidane for the second clash of Spain’s biggest clubs in the 2019-20 campaign.