Real Madrid and Barcelona Collide with La Liga Top Spot on the Line

Game: Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Location: Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, Madrid

Time: Saturday, April 10, 3 p.m. ET

Television: beIN Sports

Live Stream: fuboTV

La Liga Betting Lines

Head to Head

• Competitive Matches: 246
• Real Madrid Victories: 97 (410 goals)
• Barcelona Victories: 97 (403 goals)
• Draws: 52

The last time they met, Real Madrid pulled off the upset with a 1-3 victory at Camp Nou. Federico Valverde, Sergio Ramos, and Luka Modric scored for the visiting side, while the youngster Ansu Fati scored for the home side.

Barcelona won four of their last 10 games against Real Madrid (4-3-3), but regarding La Liga, they’ve three straight games without beating “Los Blancos”. During that 10-game span, Barcelona scored 17 goals (Real Madrid scored 13 goals), finished with a clean sheet three times, and failed to score twice.

The last game that these two played at Real Madrid’s home field finished with a 2-0 victory for the home side.

Why bet on Real Madrid?

Despite losing several key players due to injury, including Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Dani Carvajal, and Eden Hazard, Real Madrid shocked the sports betting world with a huge 3-1 mid-week victory against Liverpool (UEFA Champions League Round of 8), giving them even more confidence to face their archrival.

“What the players are doing is tremendous considering the difficulties we’ve had”, said Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid’s manager after beating the “Reds”.

Real Madrid (63 points) hasn’t lost in their last 12 games (all competitions). Domestically, they haven’t lost in their last five games, winning the last three with a 7-2 aggregate. They’ve scored 51 goals (second-best in the league) and allowed 23 (third-best in the league).

Karim Benzema has responded as expected, he’s the team’s top scorer with 18 goals. Toni Kroos leads the team in assists with eight.

Keep in mind that Real Madrid has been playing at Alfredo Di Stefano stadium (their main stadium is being remodeled), and they already lost three games (10-1-3). They also are 8-6 (against the spread) and 2-10-2 (over/under) when playing at home.

Curiously enough, this season Real Madrid hasn’t lost against the top two La Liga teams. They beat Atletico Madrid in their first match (2-0) and then drew (1-1) in their second game, and they also beat Barcelona (1-3) in their first encounter.

Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane are out, but both Dani Carvajal and Eden Hazard could play at least some minutes. Real Madrid’s expected lineup is Thibaut Courtois, Lucas Vazquez, Eder Militao, Nacho, Ferland Mendy, Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Marcos Asensio, Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior.

Real Madrid will be facing Liverpool next week (second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 8), but right now they need to be fully focused on beating Barcelona.

Why Bet on Barcelona?

Barcelona is already out of the UEFA Champions League race, which means that winning La Liga has become their main objective. Domestically, they’ve won their last six games in a row with an 18-2 aggregate, including two huge victories against Sevilla (0-2) and Real Sociedad (1-6).

Right now, they’re just one point behind Atletico Madrid, and they’ll collide with them in May, but beating Real Madrid next Saturday could leave “Los Blancos” out of the picture.

Barcelona (65 points) has scored 68 goals (best in the league) and allowed 24 (fourth-best in the league). Lionel Messi leads the league scoring chart with 23, and he also leads the team in assists with eight (they’re really going to miss him if he leaves at the end of the season).

Ousmane Dembele has improved a lot (just in time), but Antoine Griezmann is not the same who played for Atletico Madrid.

They’ve lost three games on the road (10-1-3). They also are 7-5-2 (against the spread) and 4-8-2 (over/under) when playing away from the Camp Nou.

Barcelona also has several players out due to injury, including Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho, Sergi Roberto, and Neto. Their expected lineup is Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Sergino Dest, Oscar Mingueza, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Pedri, Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi.

Final Analysis and Prediction

Just two of the last five La Liga games between Real Madrid and Barcelona went over 2½ goals, but at least one first-half goal has been scored in each of Barcelona’s last seven road games, and Real Madrid has scored in the second half of their last nine games.

We have the top two scoring teams here, and La Liga top spot will be on the line. The last time that neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona won the title was in the 2013-14 season (Atletico Madrid won it).

Real Madrid owns the momentum, but Barcelona has more to lose. Expect some fireworks, go with the over 2½ goals; Real Madrid 2, Barcelona 2, and don’t forget to check our Soccer Props for this and many other matches.

Pick: Real Madrid-Barcelona Draw +270

Pick: Real Madrid-Barcelona Over 2½ goals -145