La Liga Betting – Barcelona vs. Real Madrid (El Clasico)

Barcelona (-133) vs. Real Madrid (+380) (Draw +350)

One of the most important games in the soccer calendar will take center stage today when FC Barcelona host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou (4:00 PM Eastern).

El Clasico is always a pivotal match due to the intense animosity between the teams, but this year it has been more importance as Barca and Real are separated by just one point at the top of the table. Barcelona currently lead the tournament with 65 points after 27 games; Real Madrid is second with 64.

Barca is coming off a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.  Despite the win, manager Luis Enrique was displeased with his team’s finishing, feeling that they let a lot of good chances go to waste.

“The score could have been a rout. Hart was incredible, but we weren’t really on towards the end. We had a lot of chances, which is not normal in this type of game. We deserved to win by a bigger goal difference,” said Enrique. “I feel like we’re in good form and in as good a position as we can be, which is in the first place,” added the manager about El Clasico.

Barcelona are a -133 favorite in the moneyline. (Real Madrid are +380, the draw is +350, and the game total is at 2.5.)

The Blaugrana have won nine of their last ten league games (9-0-1) though they did suffer a surprising setback at home to Malaga in that span. Not only do Barca lead La Liga in points, but they also have the best offense (78 goals scored) and defense (16 allowed) of all 20 teams.

They have dropped the last two Clasicos (2-1 in the final of the 2013-14 Copa del Rey and 3-1 in this season’s league fixture in Madrid), but neither of those games were played at the Camp Nou.

Though Barca are a heavy favorite for tomorrow’s game, their stars aren’t taking Real lightly.

“[I have] a lot of respect for Real,” Barcelona striker Lio Messi told Canal+. “They are a fantastic team, with amazing players and we have to be wary of them more than ever. It is at these moments when Real are stronger than ever. We will try to play our game and win the match.”

Not only do the odds favor Barca, but the trends do, as well. Los Blancos haven’t won three successive Clasicos since 1978; Real Madrid beat Barcelona twice in the 2007-08 La Liga season, but that was the only time they’ve done so in the last 30 years. Barca have also taken the last two from Real at the Camp Nou.

The main task for Real today will be to contain Messi; the little wizard has scored 17 goals this La Liga season, more than Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo combined (each has five).

Unsurprisingly, in the player props, Messi is the favorite to score first in this game, listed +350; his teammate Neymar is second at +500, while Ronaldo is third at +550.

(Photo credit: By Lluís from Sabadell (Barcelona), España (LFS_14039) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)