Barcelona beat Real Madrid to take step closer to La Liga title

Re-live the action from the Clasico in Madrid

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde discusses Lionel Messi involvement in Real Madrid clash

Ivan Rakitic's fine first-half goal proved enough to give Barcelona a hard-earned 1-0 win over rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu as the LaLiga leaders continued their El Clasico dominance.

Barcelona had completed a 3-0 victory in the Copa del Rey semi-finals on Wednesday night and never looked like being stretched after Rakitic's clever chip broke the deadlock after 26 minutes.

Tempers almost boiled over at half-time when Lionel Messi looked to have been caught by a stray arm from Los Blancos captain Sergio Ramos.

There were, though, few clear-cut chances for Real, who are now winless in their last six league games against their rivals.

Barcelona are now 12 points clear of Los Blancos and 10 ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid, who host Leganes on Sunday. Re-live the action below:

What time does it start?

Real Madrid vs Barcelona kicks off at 7:45pm (GMT) on Saturday 2nd March.

Where can I watch it?

The match will be shown live on Premier Sports 1, with coverage starting from 7:15pm (GMT).

The match will also be streamed on Eleven Sports 1, with highlights uploaded to the Eleven Sports website after the game.

Predicted line-ups

Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Reguilon, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Vazquez, Vinicius Jr. Benzema

Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba, Busquets, Vidal, Rakitic, Dembele, Messi, Suarez

Form guide…

Real Madrid: DWWLWL

Barcelona: DDWDWW

Head-to-head…

Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 3 (Suarez 2, Varane OG), Copa del Rey, February 2019

Barcelona 1 (Malcom) Real Madrid 1 (Vazquez), Copa del Rey, February 2019

Barcelona 5 (Coutinho, Suarez 3, Vidal) Real Madrid 1 (Marcelo), La Liga, October 2018

Barcelona 2 (Suarez, Messi) Real Madrid 2 (Ronaldo, Bale), La Liga, May 2018

Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 3 (Suarez, Messi, Vidal), La Liga, December 2017

Odds…

Real Madrid to win: 17/10

Barcelona to win: 7/5

Draw: 13/5

Prediction…

Real Madrid 1-2 Barcelona

Key Points

• Barcelona hold seven-point advantage at top of the league and lead Madrid by nine points
• Real Madrid XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Reguilón: Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Vinícius.
• Barcelona XI: ter Stegen, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba, Sergi R., Busquets, Arthur, Rakitic, Dembélé, Suárez, Messi

[2 March 2019 13:19 · Jack de Menezes]

Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of today's El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, brought to you from the Santiago Bernabeu.

Barcelona are flying at the top of the table and if Real Madrid are to launch anything close to a Liga title challenge, tonight's match needs to be the catalyst for that. 

Kick-off is scheduled for 7:45pm GMT, with the team news set to be confirmed an hour beforehand.

[2 March 2019 18:35 · Jack Watson]

Team news

Real Madrid XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Reguilón: Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Vinícius.

Real Madrid bench: Navas, Marcelo, Valverde, Ceballos, Isco, Lucas V & Asensio.

Barcelona XI: ter Stegen, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba, Sergi R., Busquets, Arthur, Rakitic, Dembélé, Suárez, Messi

[2 March 2019 18:42 · Jack Watson]

The state of play

Barcelona remain proudly at the summit of La Liga, seven points ahead of Atletico Madrid and nine above tonight's hosts, Real Madrid.

A win for Barcelona will put them within touching distance of another league title and, just as sweet, effectively end Real Madrid's chance of a domestic trophy this season.

[2 March 2019 18:45 · Jack Watson]

Familiar foes

Of course, these sides met each other as recently as Wednesday.

Here's how it went down:

[2 March 2019 18:51 · Jack Watson]

Vinicius must work on his shooting

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr delivered one of the best performances of his young yet exhilarating career in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Barcelona, thrilling the Santiago Bernabeu and toying with the opposition defence. But there was nothing to show for it.

Can he improve tonight?

Former Real Madrid player and coach Jorge Valdano: “When Raul was at the same stage as Vinicius and starting out, we had him correcting his finishing like a madman. You have to practice on scoring goals and Vinicius will do that and will improve, he just needs to slow down a bit and lift his head,” 

[2 March 2019 18:56 · Jack Watson]

The lads

And that's definitely a coach they are walking off, not a plane...

[2 March 2019 19:03 · Jack Watson]

Real Madrid manager refuses to warn fans over Bale abuse

Things are not going swimmingly for Gareth Bale at Real Madrid at the moment.

The Welshman received a hostile reception from some supporters after he refused to celebrate his winning penalty at Levante last weekend, also seemingly shrugging off his teammates.

Santiago Solari said there is nothing to address and defend Bale.

"I have nothing to say to the fans," said the Argentine.

"Everyone knows Gareth and knows what he has given to this club. The fans at the Bernabeu are very respectful.

"Gareth has played every game since he came back and has scored several goals. He has been decisive in previous seasons and in the last Champions League."

[2 March 2019 19:08 · Jack Watson]

Expect goals

There have been an average of four or more goals in the last 10 El Clasico clashes in LaLiga, with one match featuring seven goals and another producing six.

The last time these sides drew 0-0 in the league was in 2002 and the last 1-0 was in 2009.

Lionel Messi remains the top goalscorer in the clash, with 26 to his name for Barcelona, although Luis Suarez is showing an appetite for these titanic clashes.

The Uruguayan has scored in all but one of their last five meetings since December 2017, including a hat-trick in this year's 5-1 thrashing in October. Suarez added two more to his record on Wednesday, including a confident Panenka penalty to seal Barcelona's victory.

[2 March 2019 19:23 · Jack Watson]

Bale's El Clasico record

Santiago Solari may have had good reason not to include Gareth Bale in tonight's match, here's why:

Bale has played in 13 Clasicos during his time in Madrid, but has only been on the winning side three times, with two draws and eight losses, five of which were at the Bernabéu.

And in terms of leaving his mark on the often crucial matches he falls flat. He has only scored two goals in those 13 games, although one was that Copa Del Rey goal where he whizzed beyond Marc Bartra in the final and scored. You know the one. 

[2 March 2019 19:36 · Jack Watson]

The job nobody wants

We present tonight's referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco

Good luck.