The Lowdown on Real Madrid

The first competitive Clásico of the 2022/23 season has the Santiago Bernabéu as its stage. Let’s take a look at developments in the rival camp ahead of the 4.15pm CEST kick-off on Sunday.

The club

Originally founded in 1902 in the capital of Spain, but curiously by two Catalan brothers, Madrid FC became Real (‘Royal’) Madrid when it was granted the title by King Alfonso XIII in 1920. The club has gone to win more European Cup/Champions League titles than any other (14), and has also won La Liga a record 35 times.

The stadium

Originally opened as the Nuevo Estadio Chamartín in 1947 and renamed after club president Santiago Bernabéu in 1955, this is the place where Italy beat West Germany to win the World Cup in 1982 and which has also hosted four Champions League finals, most recently in 2010 when Inter Milan were the winners.

It once held as many as 125,000 people but this has been vastly reduced due to modernisation. While the stadium celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, it is also undergoing development work that will see the capacity raised to over 84,000.

Head to head

Last ten competitive meetings
20/03/22 (LIGA) Real Madrid 0-4 Barça
12/01/22 (SUPER CUP) Barça 2-3 Real Madrid
24/10/21 (LIGA) Barça 1-2 Real Madrid
10/04/21 (LIGA) Real Madrid 2-1 Barça
24/10/20 (LIGA) Barça 1-3 Real Madrid
01/03/20 (LIGA) Real Madrid 2-0 Barça
18/12/19 (LIGA) Barça 0-0 Real Madrid
02/03/19 (LIGA) Real Madrid 0-1 Barça
27/02/19 (COPA) Real Madrid 0-3 Barça
06/02/19 (COPA) Barça 1-1 Real Madrid

Barça were on an extraordinary run against their biggest rivals, which included an unprecedented four consecutive league victories at the Santiago Bernabéu, and saw them finally match the all-whites for wins in official Clásico meetings.

However, that brilliant was interrupted in recent years, with Madrid winning four league Clásicos in a row and also beating Barça in the Super Cup in Riyadh.

That momentum was finally checked last season when Barça enjoyed yet another massive triumph in the Spanish capital, winning 4-0 with goals from Aubameyang (2), Araujo and Torres.

Real Madrid now lead the all-time count 100-96.

Barça also won the most recent meeting between the sides in a preseason friendly in Las Vegas, Raphinha scoring the only goal of the match. In fact, if non-official matches are also counted, Barça lead the all-time series.

Form guide

The defending Liga champions got off to a fine start with six straight wins in La Liga, and finally dropped points in week seven when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Osasuna. Last week they won again, 1-0 at Getafe, in what was curiously their first clean sheet of the season. Their seven wins and one draw are exactly the same as what Barça have, but the Catalans currently top the table on goal difference.

In a Champions League group that they share with Shakthar Donetsk, RB Lepizig and Celtic, they won their first three games but were held by the Ukrainians in Warsaw on Tuesday. However, Rüdiger's last second equaliser in that game means that they are already mathematically assured of a place in the last 16.

They go into this game two points ahead of Barça, with the same number of games played.

In the Champions League, they began with a 1-0 win at Inter Milan but then suffered one of the biggest shocks in tournament history when Sheriff Tiraspol won 2-1 at the Bernabéu. On Tuesday they went some way to making up for that loss with a solid 5-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk.

Madrid also won the European Super Cup by beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in Helsinki.

The players

Most capped internationals
Luka Modrić (Croatia, 154), Eden Hazard (Belgium, 122), Toni Kroos (Germany, 106), Karim Benzema (France, 97), David Alaba  (Austria, 96), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium, 96), Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, 54), Federico Valverde (Uruguay, 44), Dani Carvajal (Spain, 30), Marco Asensio (Spain, 29)

Top scorers 2022/23 (all competitions)
Vinícius Júnior (7), Karim Benzema (4), Rodrygo (4), Federico Valverde (4)

Injuries
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois missed the midweek Champions League game with a back problem, and rumour has it that he might also miss the Clásico, which would be a major blow for Real. Dani Ceballos is certainly out with a hamstring problem and there may also be doubts concerning Antonio Rudiger, who picked up a nasty head injury while scoring against Shakthar on Tuesday, although the latest news suggests that he is going to be OK.

The manager

One of the most heralded managers of all time, Carlo Ancelotti was manager of Real Madrid from 2013 to 2015, guiding them to Champions League victory in 2014 (adding to his two previous victories with AC Milan). However, he was relieved of his duties following a disappointing 2015 season.

Since then he has been at Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton. Following Zinedine Zidane’s resignation at the end of last season, he accepted the offer to return to the Bernabéu this season. When Real Madrid won the league last season, he became the first manager to do so in all of Europe’s big five leagues (having won in Italy with Milan, England with Chelsea, France with PSG and Germany with Bayern).