Fifty-two days after initially scheduled, the first Clasico of the season takes place on Wednesday night as Barcelona welcome Real Madrid to Camp Nou.

Only goal difference separates the two sides at the top of the La Liga table, meaning that victory for either would put daylight between them and their greatest rivals as they approach the midway point of the season.

Match preview

El Clasico is a match that needs no extra hype, but the prolonged wait for the first edition of the season has whetted the appetite even more ahead of Wednesday's showdown.

The script could hardly be more tantalisingly written either, with the two sides level on points at the top of La Liga following the weekend's action and only Barcelona's slightly superior goal difference keeping them as league leaders.

Both clubs will hope that matters on the pitch, rather than the political unrest off it which caused the original fixture to be postponed, make the headlines, and for both teams it is also a chance to get back to winning ways after draws last time out.

Barcelona saw their seven-match winning streak come to an end on a difficult trip to La Anoeta as they drew 2-2 with Real Sociedad, and Real Madrid were unable to capitalise on that slip-up when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Valencia on Sunday.

Los Blancos needed a 95th-minute Karim Benzema goal just to rescue that point and stay level with Barcelona, avoiding what would have been only their second league defeat of the season.

Barcelona, by contrast, have already been beaten three times in the league this season, although only one of those has come since September and they go into Wednesday's match having lost just one of their last 17 across all competitions.

Nonetheless, speculation over Ernesto Valverde's future as manager is a regular feature of the Spanish press, and reports that the club have lined up a return for Pep Guardiola at the end of the season will not have helped matters.

Real Madrid will be coming up against Guardiola and his Manchester City team in the last 16 of the Champions League as they look to re-establish themselves as the kings of Europe, but their status as the best in Spain yet alone the best in the continent has been in question for much of the recent era.

Wednesday's Clasico will be the last of a decade which has seen Madrid win just two La Liga titles compared to Barcelona's haul of seven, and with things so tight at the top of the table this time around it could be these matches which decide who will claim the first of the 2020s.

Rarely in the past 10 years have things been quite so evenly-poised heading into a Clasico, with even Madrid's record of one loss in 17 games being identical to Barcelona's recent form.

It is in the goals column where the most noticeable differences lie; Barcelona have scored 10 more goals than their bitter rivals but also conceded eight more, with Real Madrid boasting the second-best defensive record in the league behind only their notoriously miserly neighbours Atletico Madrid.

Zinedine Zidane's side will have their work cut out to keep Barcelona at bay in front of their own fans, though, with 30 of the home side's 43 league goals this season coming at Camp Nou.

Indeed, Valverde's side are yet to drop a single point at home in the league this season and have not lost a home game in any competition since November 2018 - a 30-match streak which includes 26 wins.

Only once this term have Barcelona failed to hit at least four goals in a home league game, and their La Liga winning streak at Camp Nou now stretches to 14 matches.

Madrid's own improvement away from home may have come just in time, then, with Zidane's side having won four and drawn one of their last five outings on the road, having picked up only two victories in 11 before that.

A trip to Camp Nou is an entirely different proposition than most of their away games, though, and their recent record in this fixture means that a draw would probably be regarded as a satisfactory result for the visitors.

Madrid will round off their year at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday whereas Barcelona host Alaves on Saturday - matches both Clasico participants will expect to win.

It is Wednesday's showdown which may determine who ends Barcelona's decade at the top of the table, then, and should Madrid claim the Clasico bragging rights then it could also hint at a changing of the guard back in their favour heading into the 2020s.

Barcelona La Liga form: LWWWWD
Barcelona form (all competitions): WWWWWD

Real Madrid La Liga form: DWWWWD
Real Madrid form (all competitions): WDWWWD

Team News

Real Madrid will still be without their marquee summer signing Eden Hazard for this match, with the former Chelsea player forced to wait for his first taste of the Clasico due to a foot injury.

Hazard is one of a number of absentees for the visitors, with Marcelo, James Rodriguez, Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez also sidelined through injury for this match.

Zidane will have Ferland Mendy back available after suspension, though, with the full-back expected to replace Nacho in the side.

Casemiro will also come back into the team after being rested at the weekend, while Vinicius Junior and Gareth Bale are among the other players pushing for a start.

Benzema will lead the line having so far matched the goalscoring exploits of Lionel Messi this season, the pair sitting joint top of the La Liga charts with 12 apiece.

Six-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi will be hoping to add to his record tally of 26 Clasico goals, while Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann have also been amongst the goals lately and the star-studded trio should all start again.

Ousmane Dembele remains sidelined while Arthur continues to struggle with injury - something with which the club are understood to be particularly unhappy after a couple of snowboarding sessions impacted his recovery.

Nelson Semedo is back available having returned from injury off the bench at the weekend, and his inclusion could be the only change from the draw with Sociedad if Jordi Alba is deemed ready to start two matches in quick succession following his own recent absence.

Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, De Jong; Messi, Suarez, Griezmann

Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Mendy; Kroos, Casemiro, Valverde; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius

Head To Head

Real Madrid are currently enduring a six-match winless streak against their bitter rivals, stretching back to the Spanish Super Cup double-header at the beginning of the 2017-18 campaign.

In the league alone Madrid have not beaten Barcelona since a 2-1 triumph at Camp Nou in April 2016 - one of only four victories from the 19 La Liga Clasicos over the course of the decade, compared to 11 for Barca.

The corresponding fixture last season saw Suarez steal the show with a fine hat-trick in a 5-1 win for Barcelona, who ran riot despite being without Messi.

We say: Barcelona 3-1 Real Madrid

Clasicos rarely disappoint, and this one should be particularly intriguing given the similarities both in the league table and the form book. Barcelona have had the beating of their bitter rivals in recent years, though, and with such a formidable home record we are backing Messi and co to inflict more Clasico misery on Real Madrid.