Real Madrid vs Barcelona: Fireworks Expected in First Clasico of 2025-26 Season
by Joseph King | by Joseph King
High-stakes title six-pointer in the Spanish capital
To little surprise, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two frontrunners for the La Liga title. With Atletico going through some struggles and Villarreal likely unable to maintain their form over the course of a full season, Sunday’s match could be instrumental in determining the 2025-26 La Liga winners.
The Xabi Alonso era is off to a great start, with the former Real Madrid midfielder guiding his team to 11 wins from the first 12 matches. The only blip for the 43-year-old so far was an admittedly terrible display as they lost 5-2 to city rivals Atletico at the end of September.
As for Barcelona, they were red hot to start the year but have since hit some speedbumps. They suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since December 2024 after losing 2-1 to PSG and 4-1 to Sevilla. They bounced back positively, most recently dismantling Olympiacos 6-1 in the Champions League.
Let’s get you caught up on how the top of La Liga table is looking ahead of Sunday’s match:
| Position | Team | Matches played | Record (W-D-L) | Goal differential | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Real Madrid | 9 | 8-0-1 | +11 | 24 |
| 2. | Barcelona | 9 | 7-1-1 | +14 | 22 |
| 3. | Villarreal | 10 | 6-2-2 | +8 | 20 |
| 4. | Espanyol | 10 | 5-3-2 | +3 | 18 |
| 5. | Atletico de Madrid | 9 | 4-4-1 | +6 | 16 |
One of the top stories in the build up to this match is Barcelona’s injury problems. The Blaugrana will be without a number of their top players, including Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Gavi, Dani Olmo and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
They’ll need to be resilient here, as a defeat would put them five points behind in the title race.
War of the Three Lions
There’s a unique twist to this Clasico that hasn’t before been seen in the 123-year history of Spain’s most famous fixture. It’s not all too often that English players make the journey to Spain to play in La Liga, but we’ll see a few of them on Sunday.
Barcelona’s Marcus Rashford (66 England caps), is set to face off against compatriots Jude Bellingham (44 caps) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (34 caps).
Sunday’s match marks the first time that English players have faced off in a Clasico.
Rashford has experienced a career resurgence in Catalonia after falling out of favour at Manchester United. There was never any doubt regarding the 27-year-old’s talent, and he’s showing that he can still deliver at a very high level.
Trent Alexander-Arnold recently returned from injury after missing the last seven matches and it remains to be seen if he takes part here. As for Bellingham, the former Birmingham and Dortmund player was a worldwide sensation during the 2023-24 season. He wasn’t quite able to reach those same heights in 2024-25, although he still had a very good season overall.
Fresh off scoring the winner for Madrid in their Champions League victory over Juventus, Bellingham should be full of confidence here - something that will only serve to enhance the experience for the neutrals. Goals could be the order of the day, as you can read about in our Real Madrid vs Barcelona prediction.
Rashford vs Bellingham this season
Rashford
- Appearances: 12
- Goals: 5
- Assists: 4
Bellingham
- Appearances: 13
- Goals: 2
- Assists: 1
Star power at the Bernabeu - Matchup to watch
Despite not directly marking each other on the pitch, the duel between Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal is undoubtedly where all the eyes are going to be for the 90 minutes. Arguably two of the top three players in the world at the moment, the French superstar and the Spanish prodigy are simply awe-inspiring to watch on the football pitch.
Mbappe is having an excellent campaign with 16 goals and two assists in 15 appearances across all competitions (including the Club World Cup). With 10 of those goals coming in La Liga, Mbappe has almost double the amount of strikes as Julian Alvarez in second and ranks third in the list of top scorers across Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Lamine Yamal has scored or assisted in eight of nine matches played this season for club and country.
Not to be outdone, Yamal is returning to his best after dealing with a slight injury earlier in the season. The generational 18-year-old has already racked up three goals and five assists in just seven matches.
These are two players that possess incredible gravity on the football pitch and the winner of this game could very well come down to which of them provides that magic moment.
