“It can’t be football, it must be something else”. Remember, this is what a young Malaysian boy returning from a trip to Spain asked himself, in a La Liga commercial which gave the answer: “It’s not football, it’s La Liga”. If the Spanish championship is much less spectacular than the Premier League, this Sunday's Clasico (kick-off 4:15 p.m.) between Real Madrid and Barça is one of the most anticipated in many years.
Kylian Mbappé's Merengues, buoyed by the star number 10's 10 LaLiga goals, are leaders with two points ahead of the Blaugrana, who will be led by Lamine Yamal but who have to deal with numerous absentees. Gavi, Dani Olmo, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski are all unavailable! Ferran Torres should play up front, with Fermin Lopez at number 10.
Xabi Alonso's Real is complete with the exception of Antonio Rüdiger, injured, and Trent Alexander-Arnold who has just returned to training. Federico Valverde will continue his interim role on the right side of the defense. Franco Mastantuono is expected on the right wing to form the Casa Blanca offensive quartet with Mbappé, Vinicius and Jude Bellingham.
Real Madrid-Barça, the probable lineups
The probable composition of Real Madrid: Courtois – Valverde, Militao, Huijsen, Carreras – Tchouaméni, Güler – Mastantuono, Bellingham, Vinicius – Mbappé.
The probable line-up of Barça: Szczesny – Koundé, Cubarsi, Garcia, Balde – Pedri, De Jong – Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Rashford – Ferran Torres.
How to watch the match live and streaming?
It is obviously beIN Sports which owns the TV rights to the Spanish championship in France and this first Clasico of the season can be found on beIN Sports 1 with a pre-match from 3:30 p.m. The meeting will be commentated by the essential duo Benjamin Da Silva-Omar Da Fonseca from 4:15 p.m.
As a reminder, the beIN Sports channels are available in Canal+ Sport (from 34.99 euros per month), the subscription offer which allows you to see all of the European Cups and all the posters broadcast by beIN (including the Ligue 1 clash on Saturday afternoon).
