El Clasico in numbers
Lionel Messi's goal drought, Ronaldo lacking assists, we look at some of the best Opta stats ahead Real Madrid's trip to Camp Nou for El Clasico on Sunday (AEDT).
Barcelona meets Real Madrid in LaLiga on Sunday (AEDT) for what looks set to be another mouth-watering edition of El Clasico.
It is Zinedine Zidane's men who go into the match with the advantage – it is six points clear at the top of the table – although Gareth Bale is out injured.
Barca will be hoping to take advantage of the Wales international's absence and arrest a run of form that has seen them draw its last two league encounters.
Ahead of the blockbuster, here's a look at the best Opta statistics.
MESSI V RONALDO
- Lionel Messi is the top goalscorer in El Clasico history, with 21 to his name.
- However, Messi has gone five matches without a goal against Madrid in all competitions – his worst run against Los Blancos.
- Of his 21 goals, Messi has scored 12 of them (57%) at the Bernabeu - a record he will look to improve at Camp Nou.
- Messi has 13 assists from his 32 appearances in El Clasico.
- Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, has only won in seven of his 25 Clasico appearances.
- But he has scored 16 times in those games, giving him an almost identical goal-per-game ratio (0.64%) to Messi (0.65%).
- Like Messi, he is more successful away from home - 10 out of his 16 Clasico goals were scored at Camp Nou.
- Only Alfredo Di Stefano (18) scored more goals against Barcelona for Real Madrid than Ronaldo.
- Ronaldo, though, has only produced one assist in his 25 Clasico games.
LUIS ENRIQUE AND MSN
- Luis Enrique will face Real Madrid for the seventh time as a LaLiga boss – he has won three and lost three of his previous games (W2 L2 with Barca, W1 L1 with Celta Vigo).
- Since Luis Enrique's first LaLiga match as a head coach, only Diego Simeone (4) has beaten Real Madrid more times.
- Messi has not scored in a Clasico match where he has been playing at the same time as both Luis Suarez and Neymar.
- Suarez is the only player to have scored twice in a Clasico where either 'MSN' or Real Madrid's 'BBC' frontline have played together.
- Neymar is the only player of both attacking trios to have scored and assisted a goal in the same Clasico.
- Barcelona's three defeats to Madrid is its worst record against any team under Luis Enrique (level with Celta and Real Sociedad).
- Luis Enrique won 4-0 on his last visit to the Bernabeu. Only one Barcelona manager has recorded a bigger winning margin in an away victory against Real Madrid in LaLiga.
CLASICO FACTS AND FIGURES
- The Clasico has not produced a 0-0 draw since November 2002.
- The most common Clasico result is 2-1 - it has occurred 43 times (23 of those in Madrid's favour) in 232 games.
- The two teams have only met once before in matchday 14 of LaLiga and that game ended in a 5-5 draw back in 1943.
- Victory would give Barcelona their 50th home win over its rival in LaLiga.
- In 86 meetings, Madrid have won on just 20 occasions in the league at Camp Nou.
- Barcelona have scored in each of its last 21 games against Real Madrid, the longest scoring run of any team in El Clasico history.
- Zidane could become the first Real Madrid manager to win consecutive away games against Barcelona since Miguel Munoz in 1965.
- Real Madrid has received 11 red cards in its last 26 games against Barcelona, four of them to Sergio Ramos.
