Barcelona look to put nine points between their title plans and Real Madrid when El Clasico's first 2026-27 meeting hits the Camp Nou on Sunday.
Barca are 9-0-0 to start their title defense and a late loss to PSG at Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League will not have done much to dull their early-season shine. In fact, it may give us some clues to Hansi Flick's plans lineup for Sunday.
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Jose Mourinho's Real have one less days rest than Barca ahead of this contest thanks to the Madrid side's UCL contest on Wednesday.
Real lost 1-0 at Real Betis in Week 4 and 2-1 in an away Madrid derby on September 20. Mourinho needs to push the right buttons with his lineup in order to avoid another away setback, this one on a huge scale.
So what are the predicted lineups for Barcelona and Real Madrid? Read on...
Barcelona vs Real Madrid predicted lineups: How will Barca line up for El Clasico?
Hansi Flick has done a lot of chopping, changing, and rotating of players both in terms of starts and spots on the field.
Joao Cancelo's been one of the wild cards, played forward and back on both flanks. He gives Flick the option to use Eric Garcia, Jules Kounde, and/or Xavi Espart how he sees fit.
The only guarantees are Lamine Yamal in attack, Joan Garcia at the back, and — probably — Pedri and Pau Cubarsi.
Rodri, Gavi, and Karim Adeyemi were programmed 60th minute subs at midweek. All of that could've been with El Clasico in mind, almost certainly in the case of Rodri. Raphinha and Pedri subbing off at the same point? Same idea.
— Garcia —
— Garcia — Cubarsi — Martin — Cancelo —
— Rodri — Pedri —
— Yamal — Lopez — Gordon —
— Raphinha —
Real Madrid predicted lineups at Barca: How will Real line up for El Clasico?
Health-pending, we know a number of players who have become every game men for Jose Mourinho early in his new tenure at Real.
Thibaut Courtois, Jylian Mbappe, and Fede Valverde have started every game, while Ibrahim Konate has only been out of one team. Jude Bellingham, Marc Cucurella, and Yan Diomande have also played in all 11 games.
Vinicius Junior remains suspended and will not play Sunday. Ferland Mendy, Raul Asencio, and Rodrygo are long-term injuries.
Cucurella feels a great shout to start against his former club. Denzel Dumfries, Antonio Rudiger, and Eduardo Camavinga would love to be on the field from the jump, but here's how we see it looking:
— Courtois —
— Valverde — Konate — Huijsen — Cucurella —
— Guler — Tchouameni —
— Endrick — Bellingham — Diomande —
— Mbappe —