The biggest matchup of the year so far comes on Saturday for El Clasico as Real Madrid visits Barcelona at Estadio Camp Nou for the La Liga match that starts up at 12:00 pm noon ET for fans in the United States and it features some of the world's best players in Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale and it will start at 6:00 pm local time and streaming on beIN Sport Play in the US and Sky Go in the UK.
This will be the first matchup with Barcelona for Bale after his record transfer from Tottenham and while he has been injured and limited over the past five matches, reports say that he could be starting on Saturday for the club. Barcelona is currently up in the standings and this will be a crucial match for both sides and that puts even more pressure on Bale to play in the match even if he is not all the way back. So far this year in league play each of the two teams have played in nine matches and Real is in third place on the table while Barca is in first place with 25 points. Barcelona has been scoring in bunches and they have 28 goals this season with Messi leading with eight of his own.
Check here for the Real Madrid and Barcelona coverage of the La Liga El Clasico match.
Cesc Fábregas comes in as the leader for Barca in assists and the club is looking for a victory on Saturday to push their lead on the league table. The match has three of the top players in the world in Messi, Bale and Ronaldo and is one of the most anticipated matches at any level for the whole year. Carlo Ancelotti is in to lead things and he said that Ronaldo is expecting to have a big game and he has very high regard for him and his preparation for league play, especially this match and they realize this one is a near-must win for the club. Barcelona comes in after two draws against Osasuna in La Liga play and against AC Milan in Champions League play and they now face a very tough team in Real Madrid.
The two clubs played back in the spring in another exciting match and that was 2-1 in favor of Real and now they will try to win despite the fact that each team has a new coach and are obviously in a different position and the biggest question of course will be about Bale and his health and his fitness, as he has not been able to play much since making his record transfer, although he did get into the last game against Juventus in the Champions League win 2-1 and that came after a 2-0 victory against Malaga. Xabi Alonso is out with a foot injury and the lineup for Barca will have Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Neymar as well as Messi of course and Xavi Hernandez, while Real is expected to have Bale and Ronaldo at full strength.
The two huge stars come in as the goal leaders for their respective teams as Messi and Ronaldo have eight goals each and four combined assists. Messi has three assists this season with six appearances and an over 50 percent shot accuracy in La Liga play and Ronaldo comes into the match hot and Barcelona will be on the attack, as they have not been able to snag a win over various leagues against Real over the past five matches and it will be a chance for Real to get their third in a row and it would be the first time since back in the 60s that they won two at Camp Nou and that would be a great accomplishment.