El Clasico Betting – Real Need Better Showing at Barca

Real Madrid (+409) at FC Barcelona (-182), Draw (+325)

The most anticipated soccer match in the world will take the spotlight this Saturday (1:30 PM Eastern) when FC Barcelona host Real Madrid at the Nou Camp in the 31st fixture of Spain’s La Liga.

This iteration of El Clasico finds the two most powerful teams in the world going in different directions.  While FC Barcelona will try to take another step toward the title, Real Madrid will be out for for revenge after getting hammered by Barca back in November (4-0).

Barcelona have yet to lost at home this La Liga season (14-1-0), with their lone draw coming against Deportivo La Coruña.  They average an astounding 3.6 goals per game at the Nou Camp while surrendering a miniscule 0.6. It will take a perfect game from Real Madrid to even earn a point, in all likelihood. And perfection is not a word used often for the Merengues this year.

Real are currently third in the table, ten points back of Barca and one behind intracity rival Atletico Madrid. Their play on the road is largely to blame. Too often have Cristiano Ronaldo and company left points behind in opponents’ stadiums, going 7-5-2 away from home (even though they’re outscoring teams nearly 2-1).

But, as crazy as it sounds, playing Barca away from home might help Madrid. Real love to counter-attack and have two of the faster players in the world up front between Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. Barcelona always come out aggressive at home, and if Real can weather the early storm, the speed of Ronaldo and Bale could lead to some chances later in the match.

That said, Barcelona looked like the far superior squad in the first meeting and not much has changed since then (except the venue). Expect Real to put up a better fight, but Barca to earn the full three points.

Pick: Barcelona (-182). 

(Photo Credit: Lluís from Sabadell (Barcelona) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)