clasico

Pro-independence protest group call on activists with match tickets to communicate internally with organizers

Anonymous protest group says sport cannot ignore "exceptional" situation in Catalonia and gives clubs a few days to respond

After a request that the match be moved to Madrid, the Spanish Football Federation has confirmed the postponement

The match is currently set to clash with a mass rally against the verdict of the Catalan Trial

Ivan Rakitic goal secures second win of the week at the Bernabéu and puts twelve points between the La Liga rivals

A Copa del Rey Clásico as the two most famous rivals in football do battle for a place in May's grand final in Seville

Luis Suárez scores hat-trick, Coutinho and Vidal get the others, as Barça power their way to a victory that will go down in Clásico history

Luis Suárez, Leo Messi and Aleix Vidal with the goals that see the blaugrana head into the break 14 points clear of the defending La Liga champions

The first Clásico of the season left a nasty taste in FC Barcelona supporter’s mouths. Although Luis Enrique’s men were well in command during the whole match, and unexpected turn blew up their aspirations of inflicting the first defeat of the season on the league leaders, Real Madrid. Just when it looked as if Barça was about to toast a win, Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos headed in the last minute the equalizer and stole a point. Barça was sluggish in the first half, but looked set to close the gap on unbeaten Real to three points after Luis Suarez opened the scoring. However, Ramo’s last-minute header made it 1-1 and Barça remains now six points behind the leaders.

Saturday night’s match at Camp Nou, was an epic game that had it all — a tear-inducing pre-game tribute to the recently passed Johan Cruyff and a minute of silence, frighteningly fearless tackling, heart-stopping end-to-end play and, somewhat surprisingly, a tight, evenly matched encounter standing in juxtaposition to an uncommonly large gap between the two arch-rivals in the league table. The loss, a dramatic reversal from the first meeting between the two rivals this season, when FC Barcelona routed Real in Madrid, 4–0, is FCB’s first defeat since 3 October and snaps their Spanish record 39-game unbeaten streak. What had been a ten-point gap between the league's first- and third-place teams now sits at seven.

Saturday’s battle with arch-rivals Real Madrid at Camp Nou kicks off on Saturday, 2 April at 8.30pm CET. A stadium-wide tribute to Johan Cruyff, former Barça player and coach years later, will appear in the form of a mosaic made up of some 90,000 cards that will form the slogan 'Gràcies Johan' (Thanks, Johan). Saturday's La Liga match against Real Madrid will also be attended by the eight living FC Barcelona presidents who will all be sitting in the Josep Suñol Presidential Box at Camp Nou. In the sportive sphere, Cláisco will be the first managerial duel between Luis Enrique and Zidane. Of the 85 Clásicos that have taken place at Camp Nou, Barça have won on 49 occasions, while 19 have ended in Real Madrid wins and 17 in draws. In their last encounter, Barça scored 4 goals at Santiago Bernabéu.

FC Barcelona turned in a virtuoso performance on Saturday night at the Santiago Bernabéu, meticulously carving up Real Madrid up and down the pitch to take the first El Clásico of the 2015/16 season by a score of 4-0. Suárez scored a double, while Neymar and Iniesta added one each, as the Catalans moved to six points up at the top of the table. With Real Madrid facing the ignominy of a whipping in front of their home fans, tempers began to flare, and in the 84th minute Isco was shown a straight red card for coming in high with the studs on Neymar and catching the league’s leading goalscorer. Following Barça's 0-4 demolishing of Real Madrid, head coach Luis Enrique appeared in the press room and expressed a high-degree of satisfaction with the way the game went. “I’m satisfied not just for the victory, but for the way we did it”, he stated.

From 6.15pm CET on Saturday, the Santiago Bernabéu will be the stage for the latest edition of the greatest football show in the world, 'El Clásico'. Real Madrid versus FC Barcelona is set to be played as scheduled although a set of extraordinary security measures have been established to increase the safety of those in attendance, after the terrorist attacks last Friday at Paris Saint-Denis stadium, amongst other locations. Luis Enrique confirmed that Leo Messi would be available for 'El Clásico' after the knee problem which has kept him out since the game against Las Palmas on 26 September. Ivan Rakitic, for his part, is also back after recovering from a calf strain picked up on 4 November against BATE Borisov in the Champions League. On the other hand, Rafinha and Douglas will be missing due to injury and Bartra and Masip are not travelling. 

FC Barcelona have moved four points clear at the top of the Spanish League table after Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez produced a second half wonder-goal to win the Clásico.?Jérémy Mathieu had headed Barça into an early lead before Cristiano Ronaldo equalised for Real Madrid. Sunday night’s Clásico was no disappointment. Both sides served up a veritable footballing feast, and although Real Madrid looked the better side for a large part of the first half, Barça found their A-game after the break and on the back of a fantastic goal from Luis Suárez, marched on to claim three points and take a giant’s step closer to the Liga title.

FC Barcelona took full advantage of an opponent that had the courage to come out and attack, storming to an electric 6–1 victory over Rayo Vallecano in front of a packed house at Camp Nou and vaulting them past Real Madrid into first place in the Spanish League standings, for the first time in four months. Messi net three, Suárez added two and Piqué scored one goal. The Argentinian tied Cristiano Ronaldo as the Spanish League's top goal scorer with 30 targets each. In addition, Messi became all-time hat-trick leader for Spanish clubs in official games, with 32 hat tricks in total. Besides, Messi also became the all-time hat trick record in League games, getting 24 and passing Cristiano Ronaldo's 23.