Clásico on Sunday: Barça look to go nine points clear of Real – without Vinícius
Leaders Barcelona host Real Madrid on Sunday (21:00 CEST). Mourinho's side have won four in a row but must do without the suspended Vinícius Júnior.
Archive image · Photo: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
In the season's first Clásico, FC Barcelona can take a big step on Sunday (21:00 CEST): the league leaders are six points ahead of third-placed Real Madrid and a home win would stretch the gap to nine. Barça have scored at least twice in every game this season, and Raphinha tops the scoring charts with 12 goals – three more than Kylian Mbappé.
Real arrive on a run of four straight wins, most recently 4-1 against RB Leipzig in the Champions League. Vinícius Júnior is missing, however: the Spanish federation banned him for four domestic matches after his red card against Villarreal. Coach José Mourinho complained that his side were "losing 24 hours of rest" compared with Barcelona.
Barcelona, by contrast, lost 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Coach Hansi Flick criticised too many lost balls afterwards and said his players were "not fresh". Dani Olmo is out injured. Mbappé and Lamine Yamal are among the contenders for the Ballon d'Or, which is awarded on Monday.