Barcelona and Real Madrid both go into El Clasico coming off the back of big three-goal wins over Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund this week, and the headline clash is finely poised for their meeting at the Santiago Bernabeu. Los Blancos lie three points behind Barcelona, but are on a run of four straight wins against their rivals, and will hope to continue that at 21:00 CEST this evening.
Brahim Diaz has returned to fitness just in time for Carlo Ancelotti, who is without Thibaut Courtois, Rodrygo Goes, Dani Carvajal and David Alaba for the clash. The Italian is not expected to tinker too much against Barcelona, and Sport believe it will be Luka Modric and Aurelien Tchouameni who get the nod over Eduardo Camavinga and Dani Ceballos.
How will #FCBarcelona and #RealMadrid line up for #ElClasico?
Sport believe it will be Luka Modric that gets the nod in midfield for Carlo Ancelotti, while Hansi Flick will not make any changes.👇 pic.twitter.com/jJolbK9RIO
— Football España (@footballespana_) October 26, 2024
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick is operating without Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ferran Torres, Marc Bernal and Eric Garcia, and is more or less expected to keep things the same too. Marca do believe he will make one change to the side, bringing back Dani Olmo in Fermin Lopez’s place. They also feel Camavinga will add more legs to the midfield than Modric.
Diario AS are unwilling to call either Real Madrid or Barcelona’s midfield, which are the two key points of interest in terms of selection. In their eyes, Tchouameni is guaranteed a spot though, and Ancelotti’s choice is between Camavinga and Modric,
MD are the only one of the big four outlets that go against the grain in that sense, feeling Tchouameni will miss out. They back Camavinga and Modric both to start, while sensing Flick will keep his side the same as against Bayern Munich.
Olmo is coming off a month and a half out of action, while Fermin started against Bayern. The former would probably get the nod if he had been 100% fit, although he did see half an hour of action against Bayern. Meanwhile Ancelotti is faced with a choice of weapons, given Modric allows more control of the ball and a final pass, while Tchouameni is the most natural holding midfielder. Camavinga has often been used to great effect as a substitute, but has the ability to make life more uncomfortable for Barcelona’s middle of the pitch.
