In a space of 25 days, Barcelona and Real Madrid will face each other in three El Clasico matches – two in Copa del Rey semis and another in the return leg of La Liga.
Both the teams have announced their respective squads for the first leg of the cup semi-final.
Barcelona have named mercurial Lionel Messi in their squad, but the Argentine's availability remains a talking point ahead of the match.
The skipper picked up a thigh injury their 2-2 draw with Valencia in the league. Besides Messi, forward Ousmane Dembele is also struggling with a hamstring injury.
But Madrid don't have a big injury crisis. Their only concern is defender Jesus Vallejo, who reportedly has a muscular issue.
In the last meeting of this celebrated fixture, a Messi-less Barca thumped Madrid 5-1 in October with Luis Suarez scoring a hat-trick in front of home crowd.
Since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, the rivalry seemed to have lost some of its shine with many picking the Catalans as the favourites. But the presence of global stars, including the Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, in Los Blancos ranks make the most successul club in Spain still a dangerous side. In fact, after a bad run of fixtures, they have flourished once again under new coach Santiago Solari.
All You Need To Know About The Match:
Match: Barcelona Vs Real Madrid, Copa del Rey semi-final first leg
Date: February 6-7 Intervening night (Wednesday/Thursday)
Time: 1:30 AM IST (Thursday); 9:00 PM Local (Wednesday)
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
TV Guide: Sony Pictures Networks India
Live Streaming: SonyLiv, Facebook
Likely XIs:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Coutinho, Suarez
Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Vazquez,
Vinicius, Benzema
Squads:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Pique, Rakitic, Sergio, Coutinho, Arthur, Suarez, Messi, Malcom, Lenglet, Murillo, Jordi Alba, Boateng, Roberto, Alena, Vidal, Vermaelen and Pena.
Real Madrid: Navas, Courtois, Altube, Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Nacho, Marcelo, Reguilon, Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Llorente, Asensio, Isco, Ceballos, Mariano, Benzema, Bale, Vazquez and Vinicius Jr.
