Ask any football fan and they’ll probably tell you that they’re not used to seeing so many El Clasico games at this stage of the year. By Monday, the world will have seen Barcelona and Real Madrid clash twice between July and August.
Add to that the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup and the around-Christmas-season clash between the two sides in La Liga and that brings the total to four, four El Clasico games in less than 6 months. If you know football well, this is quite strange.
But as football fans, we’re not in any position to complain. Matter-of-factly, we eagerly anticipate these clashes as the football gods have been so kind to serve them up for our consumption.
Talking about the Spanish Super Cup, Barcelona welcome bitter rivals, Real Madrid, to the Nou Camp in the first leg of the game between the La Liga winners and the Copa del Rey champions. We can’t begin to describe the kind of action that football fans can expect to see. You know how it goes down when these two teams play each other.
That being said, how about we look at some stats for the game that ushers in the new La Liga season?
- The last 12 games recorded more than 2 goals
You’d have to go as far back as 2013, in the Copa del Rey, to see any El Clasico game that finished with less than 3 goals; save for that clash in December 2016. Every El Clasico game since then – 12 in number – have seen at least 3 goals scored in each of them.
While some usual suspects may not feature in this one (Neymar, now a PSG star) and some may start from the bench, (Ronaldo, due to lack of match fitness) it’s hard to bet against history repeating itself in this encounter.
2. BTTS/GG
Since 2012, all El Clasico fixtures have seen both sides score against each other in the same game. This emphasizes the first point made. Since it’s a kind of football game where emotions are sky-high and rivalry is at its peak, it’s not hard to understand why this kind of stat exists.
The question now is this: Will there be a repeat of this in the game on Sunday? Click here to predict and win!
3. No Neymar, No Modric
It’s no more news that Neymar is set to make his Ligue 1 debut on Sunday. His absence means Barca will have Messi and Suarez to depend on for the goals. In the other side of the divide, Luka Modric will not feature for the Los Blancos side because of an event that happened 3 years ago.
With both of these players set to miss out on this edition of the El Clasico, do you think their absence will influence the game? Will it cause more goals or will the goals be scarce? Click here to predict and win.
With all the stats discussed, it all comes down to this final question:
Click here to make your predictions and win some cash!
You can also share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Tags: Barca, el-classico, real madrid
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