Barcelona beat Real Madrid to take step closer to La Liga title
Re-live the action from the Clasico in Madrid
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Your support makes all the difference.Ivan Rakitic's fine first-half goal proved enough to give Barcelona a hard-earned 1-0 win over rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu as the LaLiga leaders continued their El Clasico dominance.
Barcelona had completed a 3-0 victory in the Copa del Rey semi-finals on Wednesday night and never looked like being stretched after Rakitic's clever chip broke the deadlock after 26 minutes.
Tempers almost boiled over at half-time when Lionel Messi looked to have been caught by a stray arm from Los Blancos captain Sergio Ramos.
There were, though, few clear-cut chances for Real, who are now winless in their last six league games against their rivals.
Barcelona are now 12 points clear of Los Blancos and 10 ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid, who host Leganes on Sunday. Re-live the action below:
What time does it start?
Real Madrid vs Barcelona kicks off at 7:45pm (GMT) on Saturday 2nd March.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on Premier Sports 1, with coverage starting from 7:15pm (GMT).
The match will also be streamed on Eleven Sports 1, with highlights uploaded to the Eleven Sports website after the game.
Predicted line-ups
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Reguilon, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Vazquez, Vinicius Jr. Benzema
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba, Busquets, Vidal, Rakitic, Dembele, Messi, Suarez
Form guide…
Real Madrid: DWWLWL
Barcelona: DDWDWW
Head-to-head…
Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 3 (Suarez 2, Varane OG), Copa del Rey, February 2019
Barcelona 1 (Malcom) Real Madrid 1 (Vazquez), Copa del Rey, February 2019
Barcelona 5 (Coutinho, Suarez 3, Vidal) Real Madrid 1 (Marcelo), La Liga, October 2018
Barcelona 2 (Suarez, Messi) Real Madrid 2 (Ronaldo, Bale), La Liga, May 2018
Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 3 (Suarez, Messi, Vidal), La Liga, December 2017
Odds…
Real Madrid to win: 17/10
Barcelona to win: 7/5
Draw: 13/5
Prediction…
Real Madrid 1-2 Barcelona
The Real Madrid anthem is blaring around the Santiago Bernabeu, which reminds me of this time that the Real Madrid players were super comfortable with singing it together a couple of years ago.
This is well worth a watch - they've just walked out onto the pitch so you have just enough time.
2: Busquets has wasted no time in getting a yellow card, 82 seconds to be exact. Modric pinches the ball from him in the middle of the pitch and Kroos is brought down by Busquets as he trots forward.
Bale lines up the free-kick on the edge of the area and lifts the ball into the crowd.
5: Real Madrid get caught in possession and Messi has time and space to find Suarez. The Argentine produces an uncharacteristic error and adds too much to his through pass and Varane is on-hand to clear, albeit amid a little confusion with Courtois.
7: Both sides don't seem completely comfortable just yet, there is a feel that we may get a goal soon as a result of a mistake by either team.
Elsewhere the boos for Pique are as loud as ever. Not a favourite in these parts.
9: Benzema has started by playing in every position across the front three and finally gets his first sniff at goal. He collects a low pass fired into him from deep and drags an effort wide after cutting in from the left side. Dynamic play from the Real Madrid forwards.
11: We've had our first dive!
Congratulations if you had 11 minutes for the first tumble on your El Clasico bingo card. You have a lot to thank Rakitic for after he threw himself to the floor under Reguilon's imaginary touch.
Elsewhere, you know with the actual football, Real Madrid unleash a couple of shots on goal, the best coming from Kroos. His left-footed effort from the edge of the box swerves upwards and into ter Stegen's arms.
14: It'll be interesting to see who is controlling the television pictures that we are seeing. I wonder where their season ticket in the Bernabeu is? We've just seen a montage of what seems to be penalty appeals for the home side. The first a nudge by Rakitic and then a handball claim after Lenglet throws himself in front of a shot. Get a grip.
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