Godwin Nwachukwu

Goals, undiluted emotions, cards, top-notch footballing display, and even more goals are some of the things we look forward to whenever Real Madrid and Barcelona face-off - today's edition shouldn't be any different. Although a fraction of the goals we usually would expect to see in this fixture has been lost since Cristiano Ronaldo's exit from the Los Blancos. It has managed to sustain its reputation as one of the fiercest rivalries in world football. The Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano would host its first-ever El Clasico match while the Bernebeu remains under construction. Both teams are in form and poised to give all it takes to get maximum points from this encounter. Lionel Messi's Clasico drought Messi has been unable to breach the Real Madrid defence in the last six El Clasico encounters dating back to 2018. And that certainly contributed to Barcelona's poor performances in some of those games. The only other time Messi played six El Classico games without finding the back of the net was between April 2014 and December 2016. I fancy him to end that drought in this game. Team News This weekend's Clasico has arrived too early for Eden Hazard who still needs a bit of time to recover fully. Zinedine Zidane has his work cut out especially when selecting his centre back pairing as Sergio Ramos is out of this one. Real Madrid's squad: Thibaut Courtois, Andriy Lunin, Diego Altube, Eder Militao, Nacho Fernandez, Marcelo, Alvaro Odriozola, Ferland Mendy, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Fede Valverde, Isco, Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior, Mariano Diaz, Rodrygo Goes. Barcelona welcome Gerard Pique back in the squad for this game as they aim to maintain their second-place position and heap more pressure on Atletico Madrid. Barcelona's squad: Ter Stegen, Iñaki Peña, Arnau Tenas; Dest, Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Araujo, Mingueza, Umtiti, Jordi Alba, Junior; Busquets, De Jong, Pedri, Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Ilaix; Messi, Griezmann, Dembélé, Trincao and Braithwaite. Verdict The La Liga contest is looking like a three-horse race and this game may have direct consequences on where the title will eventually go. Most punters like to throw form out of the window when predicting games like this, it's the kind of game that could swing anywhere. I have this sneaky feeling that Real Madrid will at least get a draw in this game. Well, except Lionel Messi decides to take matters into his hands. Prediction: Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona