Real Madrid-Barcelona to battle it out in El Clasico

The Santiago Bernabéu will be the venue for Sunday showdown between the Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. This El Clásico could potentially decide this season LaLiga champion and it is regarded as the most hotly anticipated game of this season. Victory for Los Blancos will give them a 6 point cushion on their rivals with a game in hand. At this late stage in the season that would surely be sufficient to end Real Madrid's 6 year wait for a league title. Barcelona really have to win to this game to stand a realistic chance of winning La Liga and they would return to the top on head-to-head if they can do so.

Zidane's men will be full of confidence after their win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last six matches in all competitions and should be able to take advantage of Barcelona's inconsistencies. Meanwhile, this is a must win game for Barcelona if they want to stay in the title race. The Catalan giants are already three points behind Los Blancos, having played one match more than Zidane's men.

Luis Enrique's side crashed out of the Champions League against Juventus this week and they will be fired up for the derby here. Barcelona cannot afford to slip up anymore and this should be a cracking contest.

Clearly both sides will name their strongest side here but Real Madrid should be much the fresher of the teams given how they've been able to utilise their squad players during this hectic month. Last weekend they left the likes of Benzema, Ronaldo, Modric, Kroos and Casemiro out but still managed to win in Gijon and they've done similar things several times already in league matches in 2017. Barcelona by contrast rarely rest any of their front three and put in an utterly jaded performance last weekend, where they were fortunate to beat Real Sociedad at home.