Real Madrid vs Barcelona Prediction: Barca are a good price to win either half

It is one of the biggest club games in world football on Saturday night as the two Spanish giants face-off in the capital city. Premier Sports 1 will have the game in the UK, with kick-off set for 20:00.

Our Spanish Football expert is looking forward to the match and previews the encounter along with picking out his two Best Bets. Check out what they are and all his Real Madrid vs Barcelona Predictions below...

It’s the biggest weekend of the season so far in Spain as El Clásico takes place on Saturday night. The stage is perfectly set for what has the potential to be a cracking game with defending champions Real Madrid trailing Hansi Flick’s resurgent Barcelona by three points at the top of La Liga.  

In recent years, this fixture has perhaps lost a touch of its old magic, largely because there has been an acceptance even in the Catalan capital, that Real Madrid have been the superior side, not to mention much better run club off the pitch. 

Last season, there wasn’t even any real hint of a title race, as Los Blancos cruised home by a 10 point margin, but La Liga 2024/25 already feels very different. 

The arrival of Flick in Barcelona has certainly changed the mood at a club besieged by off-field problems in recent years. The cool, calm German has reinvigorated a side that has come flying out of the blocks with nine wins from 10 in La Liga so far. 

The only domestic setback came in defeat at Osasuna, the one game where Flick really took a chance with his team selection by resting some key players. Overall though, this is a side that is playing with real confidence and attacking intent, with a number of youngsters also coming into the team and performing well over the last couple of months. That has helped ease Barça through what had the potential to be a debilitating injury crisis given the packed schedule. 

It feels as though they have largely come through the other side of those issues now. Flick suddenly has an embarrassment of midfield riches to pick from with Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Dani Olmo and Fermín López all available again, to supplement the likes of Pedri, Marc Casadó and Pablo Torre. 

Things have been much more settled at the back and in attack, and it was another dynamic display from Barça’s front three that claimed the biggest scalp of Flick’s reign to date, as Bayern Munich were brushed aside 4-1 on Wednesday in the Champions League, with Raphinha scoring a hat-trick. 

It’s difficult to understate the significance of that victory from a Barcelona perspective. Champions League drubbings at the hands of Bayern had become a recurring theme throughout a really tough period for one of the world’s biggest clubs, with the Germans having won the previous four meetings by a combined aggregate score of 16-2. 

Recent clashes have tended to brutally expose all that has been wrong with Barça under their last few coaches, so to win so emphatically is the clearest evidence yet to suggest they are back as a genuine force to be reckoned with on both the domestic and European stage. 

Not to be outdone, Real Madrid were also big winners against German opposition in midweek. They also benefited from a Brazilian scoring a hat-trick, with a scintillating performance from Vinícius Júnior further cementing his status as the clear favourite for this year’s Ballon d'Or. 

It was a remarkable game with Borussia Dortmund racing into a 2-0 lead which they held until just shy of the hour mark. You can never write off Los Blancos in the Champions League though, and there was a sense of inevitability about them coming back to win once Antonio Rüdiger had headed home in the 60th minute. 

Despite a ruthless attacking display in the final half hour of that game and an unbeaten record in La Liga that stretches back more than a year, Carlo Ancelotti might just be having a few sleepless nights heading into this one. 

Real Madrid have been opened up far too easily in their two matches since the international break and could easily have lost in Vigo last weekend had Celta been more clinical. Ancelotti experimented with something resembling a back three in that game, but that didn’t really work and they looked vulnerable at right-back against Dortmund with Lucas Vázquez enduring a really tough night in a defensive sense, although he did later get on the scoresheet. 

Éder Militão is also yet to hit his best form following a serious ACL injury which saw him miss virtually all of last season, so there are cracks at the back that could leave Real Madrid vulnerable here. 

However, with Vinícius and Kylian Mbappé both showing signs that they are playing themselves into form and improving as a strike pairing, Los Blancos will certainly back themselves to exploit Barça’s high line. That’s assuming the visiting boss stays true to his principles and persists with the approach that has been delivering results for his team until this point. 

Team News: 

Both sides have some notable injury absentees. Real Madrid suffered a double blow in midweek, losing both Thibaut Courtois and Rodrygo. That will see Andriy Lunin return in goal for El Clásico, while Ancelotti will almost certainly revert to a midfield four. 

That may have been the plan in any case, but his big selection doubt may be how to compensate for Dani Carvajal’s absence at right-back. Lucas Vázquez is his natural replacement and has started the last two games, but given Barça’s wide threat, we could potentially see Militão shift across to right-back with Aurélien Tchouaméni dropping into central defence. 

As for Barcelona, they are still missing Marc-André ter Stegen, Ronald Araújo, Ferrán Torres, Andreas Christensen and Marc Bernal to injury. Eric García has also picked up a knock, which will rule him out of this one. 

There’s a strong possibility that Flick will go with the same eleven that defeated Bayern on Wednesday. The most plausible change would be the reintroduction of Dani Olmo in place of Fermín as the most advanced midfielder. Gavi and De Jong are only likely to be used off the bench following their lengthy absences. 

Real Madrid vs Barcelona Odds

Real Madrid head into El Clásico as the 21/20 favourites to extend their four match winning streak in competitive clashes. Barcelona are priced at 11/5 to make it 10 wins from 11 this term in La Liga, while you can back the Draw at 3/1. 

The home side are rated as a 49% shot to win the game according to those odds, with the visitors seen as winning 31% of the time. The chance of them sharing the spoils is given as 25%.

As is invariably the case whenever these sides meet, goals are certainly expected and the odds reflect that. Both teams to score is priced at 4/11, while backing Both teams to score 2 or more goals offers significantly bigger returns at 9/4. 

Over 3.5 goals is on offer at 1/1. You can also go with Real Madrid and Over 2.5 goals at 6/4, while Barcelona and Over 2.5 goals is priced at 11/4. 

While Rodrygo is absent, all of the other attacking regulars from these two sides are expected to start and all have every reason to head into this game full of confidence. Kylian Mbappé is the 7/2 favourite to score first and is on offer at 10/11 to score anytime, while Vinícius Júnior looks good at 6/4 to get on the scoresheet after his midweek hat-trick. 

You can back Raphinha to grab another goal at some point in this game at 21/10. Lamine Yamal is priced at 11/4 to score anytime, while La Liga top scorer Robert Lewandowski is priced at 5/4 to get on the scoresheet. 

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Bet 1 - Barcelona to win either half @ 19/20 

The way Barcelona have been playing, they’re very capable of dominating periods of this game, particularly given how Real Madrid are struggling to put a complete 90 minutes together. Los Blancos have only scored five First Half goals in 14 competitive matches this term and have been really vulnerable defensively in the opening stages of their last two games. 

While they have often only needed to play well for less than 45 minutes to win matches, as was the case again in midweek, there is a vulnerability to Real Madrid which could be exposed in their toughest fixture of the campaign to date. Flick’s side are full of confidence and full of running and I’m backing the visitors to win either half at 19/20. 

Bet 2 - Both teams to score & Barcelona over 11.5 shots @ 83/100 

Unless either coach opts for a real tactical curveball, this game is likely to follow a pattern of the visitors having plenty of territory and causing problems for this Real Madrid defence, but also potentially getting caught out on the break at regular intervals by the pace of Mbappé and Vinícius. 

There’s simply no better forward line in world football when it comes to exploiting a high line and that does present something of a dilemma for Flick as he tries to figure out how to set up his side here. 

It seems unlikely that Flick will tear up a playbook that has been working so well though. It’s hard to see any way that we don’t get goals and lots of attacking action, so I’m using the Bet Builder to back Both teams to score and Barcelona over 11.5 shots at 83/100. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out Mark's La Liga Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Spanish Football writers on our La Liga home page...