Real Madrid v Barcelona Betting Tips
New Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde will be in charge of his first El Clasico fixture, while Zinedine Zidane has a record of one win, one draw and one loss in his three competitive El Clasico derby matches. Barcelona’s dramatic 3-2 win at the Santiago Bernabeu was the latest contest, in which Lionel Messi scored a 92nd minute strike to steal the points for then-boss Luis Enrique.
This fixture will take place in Miami’s Hard Rock stadium, the home of NFL’s Miami Dolphins – meaning we should expect severely hot weather conditions. With both teams really getting stuck into their preseason campaigns now, we expect a narrow contest from the two Spanish giants. Barcelona enter the match following a 2-1 win against Juventus, who embarrassed the Catalonians in the Champions League months earlier. Neymar was crucial in that victory and is expected to play for Barcelona once again, despite rumours linking him with French giants PSG.
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Real Madrid struggled for significant periods against England’s sixth best side Manchester United in their recent friendly, losing out on penalties following a meek 1-1 draw. They face off against Manchester City in their next contest as they attempt to get up to speed before the season starts, while Barcelona are up against United.
Both sides enter this match relatively free of injuries and can afford to play strong sides in this huge battle. Both teams regularly score in this duel and more of the same is expected this time out. Barcelona have recruited Nelson Semedo, Marlon Santos and Gerard Deulofeu, but they are still far from the finished product in terms of starting quality. Although their squad is packed out with numbers, Barcelona are very top heavy, while Real Madrid are strong all around.
Real’s young talents Theo Hernandez, Jesus Vallejo, Marcos Llorente, Borja Mayoral and Dani Ceballos will be eager to prove their worth to Zidane ahead of a huge season, while sales of Danilo, Alvaro Morata, James Rodriguez, Mariano Diaz, Diego Llorente and Fabio Coentrao don’t do any damage to Real’s starting picks.
If both clubs are firing on all cylinders, Real are probably the stronger of the two while Barcelona go through a tough stage of transition. Real Madrid are available at 31/20 with Coral and that could be a rare steal on the Spanish and European champions. Barcelona still have goals in them, so 14/5 on Real Madrid to win and both teams to score with 888sport appeals, while a correct score of 2-1 to Real Madrid is on offer at 9/1 with Ladbrokes.
