A day after Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to thrash Dortmund 5-2 thanks to a hat-trick by Vinicius Jr., La Liga leaders Barcelona ended a near decade-long winless run against Bayern with a 4-1 rout boosted by three goals from Raphinha.
Both Vinicius and Raphinha have arguably been their teams’ best players this season and look primed to bring a Brazilian storm to Real’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Barcelona travel to Madrid sitting top of La Liga standings on 27 points, three ahead Real, riding a superb performance from their attacking trio of Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha who have scored 21 of Barca’s 33 La Liga goals this season.
Lewandowski has netted 12 league goals in 10 games, double the amount of Real’s Kylian Mbappe and Villarreal’s Ayoze Perez who are the league’s joint second highest scorers.
Teenager Yamal has continued his form from Euro 2024 where he helped Spain lift their fourth European Championship trophy, but Raphinha’s all-around performances in manager Hansi Flick’s first season in Spain have outshone his team mates.
With so much attacking firepower, injuries could play a big role in Saturday’s clash as both teams will be without key players in defence.
Real will miss goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, centre back David Alaba and captain Dani Carvajal along with forward Rodrygo.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and key defender Ronald Araujo will be absent, but Gavi, Frenkie De Jong and Dani Olmo are expected to be available.
