It’s too early in the season to be panicking, but neither Barcelona or Real Madrid are coming into their clash this weekend in a brilliant situation.
Real have just been defeated by a depleted Shakhtar Donetsk squad at home, while there is even some talk that they’ve started to sound out potential replacements for Zinedine Zidane in case they lose tomorrow.
Barcelona’s issues are more self-made with turmoil behind the scenes, while their performances on the pitch are still a work in progress so neither side can be seen as true favourites.
Real have started to show that they simply cannot defend or get a result when Sergio Ramos is not in the team, so they will be relieved to see that he’s overcome some injury concerns to make the squad for the game:
?? Our 20-man squad for #ElClásico!
#HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/hI8KBbDorX— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) October 23, 2020
It’s a worrying state of affairs when a team is so reliant on an ageing centre back but Ramos has become the talisman for Real, but there will be concerns about him being at full fitness for this.
Eden Hazard wasn’t expected to recover in time so it’s no surprise that he’s missed out, so Zidane will need to hope he’s got enough to get a victory to lift the pressure.