La Liga's first El Clasico sees Barcelona visit Real Madrid on Sunday
Last campaign, Barca beat their Clasico rivals four times
Xabi Alonso will be managing his first El Clasico against Barcelona
Rarely has the rivalry between behemoths Real Madrid and Barcelona been so one-sided.
Last season, in addition to scooping the Copa del Rey, Supercopa de Espana and LaLiga titles, and going further than Madrid in the Champions League, Barca beat their Clasico rivals four times.
They won 4-0 away and 4-3 at home in LaLiga, triumphed 5-2 in the Supercopa showpiece, then, to top it all off, won 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final, thanks to Jules Kounde's extra-time strike.
But there are early signs of change this season, with Madrid winning eight of their first nine games in LaLiga to lead Barca by two points ahead of Sunday's Clasico.
With Xabi Alonso looking to lay down a marker in his first Clasico as a coach and Hansi Flick looking to match a record set by Pep Guardiola, fireworks are expected.
Ahead of the match, we delve into the Opta data to pick out the players and storylines to keep an eye on.
What's expected?
Across the Opta supercomputer's 10,000 pre-match simulations, Madrid were victorious in 45.3%, with Barca winning 31.1%.
And, having only dropped points once, in a 5-2 loss to Atletico Madrid last month, Los Blancos are now the supercomputer's favourites to win LaLiga.
They reclaim the Spanish crown in 57.1% of simulations, with Barca retaining it in 37.4%.
Barca may have swept last season's quartet of Clasicos, but if you only consider LaLiga matches, things start to look rosier for Madrid.
Madrid have won seven of the last 11 Clasicos in league play, with Barca winning the other four. That is the same number of victories as Los Blancos had in their previous 29 head-to-head meetings in the competition (seven draws, 15 defeats).
None of the last 11 meetings between Madrid (seven wins) and Barcelona (four) in LaLiga have ended in a draw.
This is the longest run without a draw in El Clasico in the competition since a streak of 18 matches between 1977 and 1986 (10 wins for Madrid, eight for Barcelona).
The supercomputer's predictions end level in 23.6% of scenarios, and that result would maintain Madrid's slender advantage at the summit, but both teams will be going all out for victory.
Madrid eye statement result
That aforementioned 5-2 defeat to Atletico remains the only blot on Madrid's record in their debut season under Xabi Alonso, having won eight matches in LaLiga and achieved three straight victories in the Champions League.
Their most recent victory came against Juventus in Europe on Wednesday, with Jude Bellingham pouncing on the rebound of a Vinicius Junior effort to score the only goal.
Bellingham missed the start of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery, but he will hope to kick on after getting his first goal of the campaign.
Madrid coped admirably as Bellingham worked his way back to full fitness, with Arda Guler enjoying a breakout campaign to date, with three goals and five assists from an attacking midfield position.
Only Kylian Mbappe (15 goals, two assists) and Vinicius Junior (five goals, four assists) have contributed to more goals for Alonso's side since the Club World Cup.
Among all players from Europe's top five leagues, only Harry Kane (20 goals) has outscored Mbappe this season, and the Frenchman recently netted in 11 straight matches for club and country before failing to find the net against Juventus in midweek.
Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the most recent Clasico, despite Madrid falling to a 4-3 defeat at Montjuic as Barca pulled away in the title race in May, and his overall record against the Blaugrana is excellent.
The Frenchman has scored 11 goals in eight appearances against Barcelona in all competitions during his career with both Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, netting five times in four Clasicos. That is the most goals he has scored against a single non-French team in his club career.
Given the attacking quality within his ranks, Alonso will be hopeful of bucking the recent trend of Madrid coaches struggling on their Clasico debuts.
Seven of the last eight Madrid bosses lost their first game against Barca in LaLiga, with only Zinedine Zidane victorious, overseeing a 2-1 away win back in 2016.
Madrid are also defending a fearsome home record, having won their last eight league games at the Santiago Bernabeu. They last won nine on the spin there in February 2015, during Carlo Ancelotti's first spell in charge.
Pep's Clasico record in Flick's sights
Flick has yet to experience defeat – or anything less than a victory – against Madrid, and another win on Sunday would see him achieve a rare feat.
Only one coach has ever won their first five Clasicos in charge of either team (all competitions), with Guardiola doing so between 2008 and 2010.
In fact, that run is the only time Barca have ever recorded five straight victories over Madrid, so the Blaugrana's current crop can join that iconic side in the history books on Sunday.
Barcelona crushed Olympiacos 6-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday, and they have been thrilling to watch in the early stages of this season, despite some injury problems.
Only Bayern Munich (42) have bettered Barca's 33 goals among teams from Europe's top five leagues this season (all competitions), with 24 of those strikes arriving in LaLiga – more than any other team.
Marcus Rashford has more goal involvements than any other Blaugrana player this term, scoring five times and adding four assists to sit one clear of Lamine Yamal (eight – three goals, five assists).
The Manchester United loanee – who netted his second Champions League brace of the season when Barca thrashed Olympiacos on Tuesday – will hope to get his first taste of El Clasico this weekend, but with Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres in fine form, there is plenty of competition for a starting spot.
Raphinha had also returned to training after a spell on the sidelines, though reports emerged on Friday that the winger had suffered from discomfort, throwing his participation into doubt.
Barca put a remarkable 16 goals past Madrid across the four Clasicos to take place last season, and even with Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo sidelined, they have the firepower to blast their way to the top of the table.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Real Madrid – Vinicius Junior
Vinicius leads all players in LaLiga for touches in the opposition area this season, with 79. His two closest rivals could also feature on Sunday, with Mbappe on 74 and Rashford on 56.
The Brazil international has failed to score in four straight Clasicos after netting five times in his previous four meetings with Barcelona, and he will hope to return to that kind of form on Sunday.
Attack may well be the best form of defence for Madrid, who are without David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger and harbour doubts over right-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dani Carvajal.
Barcelona – Lamine Yamal
The Ballon d'Or runner-up needs no introduction. He has scored three goals in the last four meetings between Barca and Madrid, including a wonderful strike in May's 4-3 victory for the Blaugrana.
Yamal helped himself to a goal and an assist against Olympiacos in midweek, doing so for the second time in the Champions League (also against Benfica in March).
That took him to 12 goal involvements in Europe's premier cup competition (six goals, six assists), with only Mbappe – who he will face on Sunday – ever managing more as a teenager (20).
