The El Clasico heads to Miami, Florida as Real Madrid take on Barcelona in the penultimate match of the 2017 International Champions Cup.
Champions Cup – USA Sunday 30th July – 00:30 UK Time
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Draw
Best Odd of: 3/1 at Skybet |
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Real Madrid
BarcelonaReal Madrid
The Spanish and European champions haven’t had the greatest of pre-season’s, having failed to win in both of their International Champions Cup matches so far.
They started with a penalty shoot-out loss to Manchester United, following a 1-1 draw, and then were completely outplayed by Manchester City during a 4-1 defeat.
Defeat here would see them finish bottom of the eight teams participating in the ICC – United States.
With the new season fast approaching, they will want to pick up a victory soon and they only have a couple of matches in which to do it. After this match, they take on an MLS All-Star team before heading back to Spain in time for the Super Cup.
Barcelona
Barcelona will head into the new season determined to regain the title they lost to their El Clasico rivals last season. A solid pre-season will be a strong foundation on which to build their campaign, and it’s going well so far.
Their opening ICC match was against Italian champions Juventus, and a double from Neymar was enough to secure a 2-1 victory. In the next match, the Brazilian struck the only goal of the game against Manchester United to make it two wins from two matches.
Currently topping the table in the United States section of the ICC, Barcelona know a victory will see them pick up the trophy.
Head to Head
There has been 266 El Clasico matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona in all competitions, 233 competitive matches and 33 friendlies.
Overall, Barcelona hold the advantage with 110 victories. Real Madrid have won 97, and 59 have been draws. This advantage for Barcelona is due to their dominance in non-competitive matches. Real actually lead with 93 wins in league, cup, and European meetings, but have only won four of the 33 friendlies. Barcelona have won 19 of the 33 and there have been ten draws.
In the last ten competitive meetings between the sides, between March 2013 and April 2017, Barcelona have won five, Real Madrid have four victories, and one game has finished level.
Of those ten matches, there has been a total of 37 goals with both teams scoring in nine of those meetings.
Other interesting head to head statistics are that Lionel Messi is the all-time leading El Clasico scorer with 23 goals, and there have been five red cards shown in the last ten meetings. Sergio Ramos received his marching orders three times during that period.
The most recent meeting was in La Liga in April this year, when an injury time goal from Messi gave Barcelona a narrow 3-2 win.
Betting Odds and Predictions
As expected, there’s not much to choose between these sides when it comes to betting odds. Sky Bet have Barcelona as the slight favourites, at odds of 11/8. Real Madrid are priced at 7/4, and the draw is 14/5.
If you want to back either team to win, we think it best you use the ‘Draw No Bet’ market. Real Madrid are 1/1 and Barcelona are 8/11, with your stake returned if the game finishes level.
There are two bets we think are bankers in this game, which are Both Teams to Score and Over 2.5 Goals.
Both teams have each netted in nine of the last ten meetings, and should do again with the attacking prowess both teams possess. Both Teams to Score is priced at 30/100, so not the most value but we are confident of a profit.
There has been a total of 37 goals scored in the last ten meetings, at an average of 3.7 a game, so we are also confident of this match having Over 2.5 Goals. This is priced at 2/5 with Sky Bet.
With the average suggesting a high potential for more than three goals, backing Over 3.5 could be a good bet at odds of 10/11.
Punters can also pair up Both Teams to Score with Over 2.5 Goals, priced at 4/7.
Lionel Messi is the all-time leading scorer in El Clasico matches, with 23, and is priced at 1/1 to score in the 90 minutes here.
We think a better anytime goal scorer bet would be Neymar. The Brazilian has netted three times in his last two games and it’s 7/4 he scores in 90 minutes in this match.
Top Betting Tip
Our top betting tip for this match is Both Teams to Score, at odds of 30/100 with Sky Bet.