Real Madrid vs Barcelona 03/03/19

03 March 2019

After suffering a painful 3-0 loss in Copa del Rey semi-finals, Real Madrid welcome arch-rivals Barcelona to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu looking to settle the score.

It’s Real’s last-ditch effort to keep their hopes of lifting La Liga alive, as they currently sit nine points adrift of Barca. Surprisingly, but all three of Los Blancos’ last league defeats arrived at home with Santiago Solari’s men conceding over 1.5 goals per match in each. On the other hand, all six of their previous LL home triumphs have seen them beating their opponents to nil while scoring 2+ match goals five times in the process. Goals have not been in short supply in Real’s last ten games across all competitions, with nine of them produced over 2.5 goals per match. However, Solari can’t be happy to know his players have kept just one clean sheet in that period, allowing 2+ match goals four times along the way.

Meanwhile, the Catalans arrive in the Spanish capital looking for a victory that would practically put La Liga trophy in their hands. The reigning holders have picked up four wins on their last five visits to the Santiago Bernabeu (W4, L1) scoring 3+ match goals in each triumph. Ernesto Valverde has every reason to hope for a positive outcome here considering his men lost just one of 12 LL road trips this campaign, pulling off eight wins in the process, which is La Liga’s best away record. What’s more, Barcelona’s tally of ten goals conceded away from home is the league’s joint-best, with the Blaugrana keeping five clean sheets so far. The visitors have no problems scoring on the road as Leo Messi and Co. bagged 2+ match goals in five of their last six LL road meetings.