- Sunday 10 May
- 20:00 BST
- Camp Nou
- LaLigaTV
Perched 11 points clear at the top of La Liga, Barcelona, only require a win or draw on Sunday night to be crowned as Champions. That sets the stage, but the headlines will all be focused on the Real Madrid changing room, and their internal conflicts.
The Catalan outfit are all but confirmed Champions this season, only a miracle could allow a change in what is becoming a formality. Barcelona have won 29, drawn one and lost four of their 34 league matches this season to collect 88 points.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, are facing a horde of issues head on in what has been a disastrous season by their standards. Trophiless for the second season running, but most damning of all being the inflated personalities inside the dressing room.
Tchouameni and Valverde were involved in a physical confrontation on Wednesday, and it unearthed a plethora of underlying issues that have been bubbling below the surface over the season. Tempers were understood to have flared further on Thursday, resulting in Valverde ending up in hospital due to a head injury.
According to reports, an emergency ‘crisis cabinet’ meeting was held, where no players were allowed to leave after the situation was addressed internally. Valverde and Tchouameni were each fined €500,000, no further sanctions were issued so they are in contention to play on Sunday, if Valverde’s head injury permits.
This conflict uprooted a volume of issues at the club, petitions were signed to get Mbappe out of the club, Rudiger and Carreras have allegedly been in conflict, players pretending to be asleep during Xabi Alonso tactical meetings and much more. Arbeola in his pre-match conference has taken responsibility, claiming: “The fight between Valverde and Tchouameni was my fault”.
On the flip side, Barcelona, are steaming away at the top end of the table. Ten consecutive league wins on the bounce and will be hoping to lift their 29th league title against their bitter rivals.
They will be confident in doing so too, with Real Madrid tripping themselves up as they stare down the barrel of watching the Blaugrana lift the title on the day. Madrid are due to go through a second consecutive season without a major trophy, turmoil.
Team predictions
Lamine Yamal is still out injured, Hansi Flick will likely turn to his trusted backup, Rashford and Lopez pairing on the wings. Raphina is set to return from his hamstring injury sustained for Brazil, but may not be ready to start. Long-term absentee Andreas Christensen is back in training after recovering from his knee injury. The back line and midfield will likely stay the same as we have grown used to.
Predicted XI: J.Garcia, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martin, Cancelo, Gavi, Pedri, Fermin, Olmo, Rashford, Lewandowski.
Kylian Mbappe and Courtois are on track to feature after his recent medical tests, but a long list of names in their medical rooms will probably miss out. Guler (hamstring), Carvajal (foot), Ceballos (thigh), Mendy (thigh), Rodrygo (knee), Militao (hamstring) and now Valverde (head) will all find this game comes too early in their battle for fitness.
Predicted XI: Courtois, Garcia, Huijsen, Rudiger, Alexander-Arnold, Camavinga, Tchouameni, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham, Diaz, Mbappe.
Match Predictions
Barcelona do not need to win today, their 11 point perch puts a wide berth between them and Los Blancos. They will want to do it in front of their rivals though, and a crowd of 99,000 at the Camp Nou will hope that a win or a draw can be scavenged to lift the trophy.
In all competitions, Barcelona have won five of the last six meetings between the two teams, but Real Madrid have won five of their last 10 contests, including a 4-0 at Camp Nou in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey in April 2023.
We predict a resounding 3-1 win for Barcelona.
Real Madrid will be desperate to make a statement in an otherwise disappointing season, but the script already feels written. Injuries, suspensions and deep rooted issues at the club leaves them distracted in their match preparation.