Barcelona can put Real Madrid nine points behind them on Sunday when the first El Clasico of the season takes over Camp Nou — and Jose Mourinho returns to the fixture he once dominated, this time without the suspended Vinicius Junior.
Hansi Flick's champions have made a perfect start in La Liga, nine wins from nine, and sit on 27 points. Madrid, third on 21, are six points back, as reported by SuperSport ahead of the game. A home win stretches that gap to nine with only ten matchdays played; a Madrid win cuts it to three and blows the title race wide open.
A first defeat, and a Madrid side finally clicking
The build-up has not been smooth for Barcelona. Flick's side suffered their first defeat of the season at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, a first crack in what had looked an unstoppable start.
Madrid arrive in the opposite mood. They have won four consecutive matches, including the emphatic win over Leipzig in midweek, and are starting to look, for the first time since Mourinho's arrival this summer, like a coherent team rather than a collection of stars. It is also the first Clasico meeting between Flick and Mourinho — their only previous encounter came in the 2019-20 Champions League group stage, when Flick's Bayern Munich beat Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur 3-1. Mourinho, back for a second spell at Madrid after managing the club between 2010 and 2013, knows Camp Nou can turn a season in either direction: Barcelona beat Madrid 2-0 at this stadium in May to clinch last season's title.
Vinicius suspended — and Madrid may not mind
The biggest team-news line is an absence. Vinicius is suspended after his four-match ban, ruling him out of the Clasico. Spanish daily AS, quoted in the SuperSport preview, wrote that the suspension was seen inside Madrid "more as a solution than a problem" — a chance for Mourinho to pick a side with clearer balance instead of trying to fit every star in at once.
That points to record €140 million signing Yan Diomande on the left. The teenager offers more defensively and is starting to hit his stride going forward. Sports Mole has Arda Guler and Diomande in the wide areas in its predicted Madrid side, with Jude Bellingham as the number 10 behind Kylian Mbappe, and Bernardo Silva pushing for a midfield start after his performance against Leipzig — with Federico Valverde potentially used at right-back.
Barcelona have problems of their own. Sports Mole lists Dani Olmo, Roony Bardghji, Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia as out, with Jules Kounde a major doubt through an ankle issue. The boost is further forward: Raphinha is fit again and Lamine Yamal is enjoying a run of form that has made him the player Madrid must plan for first. Madrid, meanwhile, are also without Rodrygo, Ferland Mendy and Raul Asencio through injury, on top of the Vinicius suspension.
So what does Sunday actually decide?
So what? Nine points in October is not a title, but it is a mountain — especially for a Madrid side still being rebuilt by Mourinho, with games against Racing Santander and Valencia to come before the international break. Win, and Barcelona can manage the winter from the front. Lose, and the gap is three points, the momentum is Madrid's, and the questions that followed the PSG defeat start to look like a pattern rather than a blip.
The midfield battle may decide it. If Madrid press Barcelona's build-up the way PSG did, Flick needs his patched-up defence to survive the first half-hour. If Barcelona control the tempo, Madrid's front line — however Mourinho arranges it without Vinicius — will spend long spells chasing shadows.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Barcelona should win this, and the reason is simple — they know exactly who they are, and Madrid are still working it out. Mourinho's four straight wins are real, but they have come while he experiments; Flick's side, even after the PSG loss, have a settled attack built around Yamal and Raphinha, and a six-point cushion that lets them play without fear. Expect Madrid to make it uncomfortable, expect Mbappe to get his chances — but expect Camp Nou to end the weekend nine points clear at the top.
Can Mourinho's Madrid cut the gap to three, or will Barcelona go nine clear on Sunday? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
