A day after Actual Madrid fought again from two targets right down to thrash Dortmund 5-2 because of a hat-trick by Vinicius Jr., La Liga leaders Barcelona ended a close to decade-long winless run towards Bayern with a 4-1 rout boosted by three targets from Raphinha.
Each Vinicius and Raphinha have arguably been their groups’ finest gamers this season and look primed to deliver a Brazilian storm to Actual’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Barcelona journey to Madrid sitting prime of La Liga standings on 27 factors, three forward Actual, driving an outstanding efficiency from their attacking trio of Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha who’ve scored 21 of Barca’s 33 La Liga targets this season.
Lewandowski has netted 12 league targets in 10 video games, double the quantity of Actual’s Kylian Mbappe and Villarreal’s Ayoze Perez who’re the league’s joint second highest scorers.
Teenager Yamal has continued his kind from Euro 2024 the place he helped Spain raise their fourth European Championship trophy, however Raphinha’s all-around performances in supervisor Hansi Flick’s first season in Spain have outshone his crew mates.
With a lot attacking firepower, accidents might play an enormous function in Saturday’s conflict as each groups will likely be with out key gamers in defence.
Actual will miss goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, centre again David Alaba and captain Dani Carvajal together with ahead Rodrygo.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and key defender Ronald Araujo will likely be absent, however Gavi, Frenkie De Jong and Dani Olmo are anticipated to be accessible.
