It may only be pre-season, but El Clasico in Las Vegas has become quite the affair ahead of a La Liga season where Barcelona are vying to topple Real Madrid for the title. After Real Madrid missed out on Kylian Mbappe while he stayed at PSG, they were able to further strengthen the squad by adding Antonio Rudiger and Aurelin Tchouameni. While Los Blancos have an aging squad on the surface, they are preparing for life after midfielders Luka Modric and Toni Kroos finally flew into the sunset and Eduardo Camavinga is likely to play a bigger role this season. With Gareth Bale’s wages finally cancelled, Real Madrid will also have the spending power to hunt whoever they want going forward.
Speaking of purchasing power, Barcelona entered the summer with nothing, but through a myriad of offers were able to reap all the profit in the transfer market. Xavi’s side have already added Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen. Even after adding this quartet, they are not done as Jules Kounde and Cesar Azpilicueta could still enter the fray.
The turnover at Barcelona makes it an important pre-season, which is why this edition of El Clasico means something even if points and trophies are not on the line. Sergino Dest and Memphis Depay are a few names that come to mind who will have to impress if they wish to spend more time at Barcelona. Dest won’t be able to advance behind Raphinha as much, so he’ll need to be better defensively while Depay now finds himself as the third-choice striker or winger.
For Xavi, the game will be a good litmus test to see where his players stand after a scrum against Inter Miami where they scored six goals and Raphinha opened his Barcelona scoring account. Round-robin friendlies with Real Madrid and Juventus won’t hurt revenue either.
Here are our scenarios, how you can watch the game and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday July 23 | Time: 11 p.m. ET
- Location: Allegiant Stadium — Las Vegas, Nevada
- TV: FS2 | Direct: fuboTV (Try for free)
Scenarios
Real Madrid: It’s hard to see how Real Madrid will attack this game. It’s a good chance for young players to test themselves against Barcelona as the starting line-up is mostly set for Carlo Ancelotti as the season approaches. There are reports that in training Ancelotti was test Eden Hazard as a false nine so that might be something to watch out for. Otherwise, it’s just one more game to get back into shape before defending their league and league titles.
Barcelona: While line-ups don’t really matter in friendlies, all eyes will be on Xavi and Frenkie de Jong. With the midfielder still attracting interest from Manchester United, he was used as a centre-back in Inter Miami’s friendly but will be needed in midfield if he stays at Barcelona this season unless Xavi isn’t looking to switch to a three-man formation. It will be important to see how Barcelona attack the game as Xavi determines his rotations for the league and the Champions Leauge.
Prediction
This match could go either way depending on the line-ups, but a good performance means more to Barcelona than it does to Real Madrid. Take: Real Madrid 2, Barcelona 3