Neither side appears to have the clinical edge needed to score the decisive goal this evening. There's still time, but it might take something special at this stage.
90' +2
Dani Carvajal gets yellow.
Carvajal catches Fati late and is carded for his challenge.
90'
Carvajal manoeuvres himself into the Barca box in the right inside channel, but he cannot pull the trigger on a strike before Alba knicks it away from him.
There will be five minutes of added time.
89'
Benzema collects in a dangerous position in the left inside channel, but he cannot find room for a strike before picking out Mendy on the edge of the box. The full-back takes a loose first touch and Rakitic steals possession to quell the threat.
87'
WIDE! Fati wins a corner off the legs of Carvajal. The resulting delivery from Fati travels deep to the back post, but Suarez can only head his attempt harmlessly wide of the post.
86'
Modric sends a first-time ball over the top for Bale, who takes a touch, but does not have the pace to gather ahead of the advancing Ter Stegen inside the box.
83'
Ansu Fati enters the game and replaces A. Griezmann.
Fati receives a cheer from the home fans as he replaces Griezmann in the final third.
82'
Bale and Pique have a clash of heads, which sees the decision go in favour of the home side. Mendy puts a dangerous cross into the middle, but the Barcelona defender is well placed to clear ahead of the forward before taking a whack in the process.
80'
L. Modrić enters the game and replaces F. Valverde.
Rodrygo enters the game and replaces Isco.
Modric replaces Valverde in the Madrid midfield for the final 10 minutes.
Isco is withdrawn for Rodrygo in the final third.
Minute
Description
78'
Sergio Ramos gets yellow.
Messi draws a mistake from Ramos, who cynically pulls down the Argentine. Ramos is booked for the incident and keeps talking to the referee after the fact. He has to be careful.
76'
Isco gets yellow.
Isco catches Griezmann after he offloads the ball and the Spaniard is booked for his late challenge.
70'
G. Bale gets yellow.
Bale catches Griezmann late and he is the latest player to be carded.
68'
WIDE! Valverde surges forward on the counter for the visitors. He sees his first pass blocked by Vidal, but his second offload finds Bale in the left inside channel. The Welshman blasts a strike towards goal, but he smashes his attempt into the side-netting.
66'
Casemiro gets yellow.
Casemiro brings down Suarez from behind and goes into the book. The free-kick is in the range of Messi 25 yards out.
65'
Benzema tries to help the ball back across the face of goal from a deep cross from Isco, but his effort clips the side of the post and bounces wide with Ter Stegen covering his back stick.
64'
BLOCK! Sergi Roberto scoops a cross into the box and Griezmann brings it under control. He tries to force a right-footed strike towards the target, only to smash his attempt into a wall of white shirts.
62'
Barcelona are beginning to find their feet in the second half. There's still not the urgency that Valverde would have demanded at the break to take control of the contest, but there has been an improvement.
59'
Sergi Roberto has his first surge down the right flank, but his cross towards the near post is claimed with ease by Courtois.
57'
Barca need an injection of quality from someone other than Messi. They can't always be reliant on the Argentine to conjure something out of nowhere.
55'
A. Vidal enters the game and replaces Nélson Semedo.
Semedo is withdrawn for the home side and is replaced by Vidal. Sergi Roberto should drop back into right side of the Barca defence.
54'
WIDE! Kroos tees up Valverde for another strike from distance, but his effort is deflected behind by a block from Lenglet.
53'
Isco collects in space, but he takes the ball into a crowded area in the final third and loses out to Alba.
51'
Bale moves into a dangerous position down the left flank and he fires the ball low towards the near post, but Ter Stegen is there to gather ahead of Benzema.
49'
Messi runs at the Madrid defence, escaping a challenge from Casemiro on the edge of the box. He fires a low ball into the middle for Suarez that Ramos clears ahead of the forward.
48'
Madrid take the initiative at the start of the second half with early pressure on the home side, but Barca are able to clear their lines with relative ease.
45' +1
HALF-TIME: BARCELONA 0-0 REAL MADRID
45'
C. Lenglet gets yellow.
Lenglet is late in his challenge on Isco and goes into the book.
There will be one minute of added time.
Griezmann hangs a cross deep to the back post for Suarez. The forward opts to cut the ball back across the box, but it evades the run of De Jong in the middle. Agony for the home side.
40'
L. Suárez gets yellow.
Suarez is booked for a lunge on Casemiro.
36'
Messi whips the corner towards the near post, but the visitors are able to clear their lines. Barca have not been able to sustain a period of pressure on the Madrid backline.
35'
Semedo takes on Mendy down the right flank and wins a corner for the home side off the legs of the Frenchman.
34'
Sergi Roberto wins the ball back high up field for Barca, but he cannot pick out Suarez with his low pass into the box.
29'
Madrid exert pressure down the left as Mendy wins a corner off the legs of Sergi Roberto. However, Ter Stegen clears the first delivery from Bale with his fist before gather a tame header from Casemiro.
28'
Barca attempt to break the stranglehold, but Semedo is caught offside as he latches on to Sergi Roberto's throughball into the right inside channel. The Catalan side need a spark.
27'
Kroos lifts the resulting corner into the middle from the right flank. Varane rises highest in the box, only to glance his attempt wide of the target.
23'
Los Blancos are edging the duel on the pitch at the moment. They're moving the ball around the pitch nicely and the Barca players are struggling to cope with their movement in the final third.
21'
I. Rakitić gets yellow.
Isco skips past Rakitic in the Barcelona half and it draws a clip of the heels from the midfielder. Rakitic is booked for his cynical foul.
20'
Mendy hangs a cross deep to the back post as the Madrid pressure continues. However, Varane fouls Alba in his attempt to win the ball. There is a bit of afters between the two players, which is brought under control by the referee.
16'
Casemiro lines up a strike to nothing on the edge of the box, but he sees his effort deflected behind by Alba out for a corner.
15'
The visitors exert pressure down the left but the Barcelona defence holds firm to repel two crosses into the middle from Mendy and Isco.
13'
Barcelona are looking dangerous in the Madrid half when the ball is played into space, but the home side are lacking the cutting edge in and around the box at the moment to test Courtois.
9'
De Jong leads Barcelona upfield before feeding Alba on the left flank. The full-back goes for a low cross, but it's cut out by Valverde in the middle ahead of Suarez.
8'
Casemiro brings down De Jong in the middle of the park just as the Dutchman was looking for a forward pass to Messi.
7'
Mendy makes a run down the left flank, but he gets isolated and loses out to Semedo under presssure from the Portuguese.
6'
The home side are edging the early stages of the contest as Madrid attempt to get their foot on the ball.
4'
Messi launches a cross-field pass towards the run of Alba down the left flank. It finds the Spaniard in stride on the edge of the box, but his cross for Suarez is behind the Uruguayan.
2'
Messi has his first surge forward of the game, but his attempted offload towards Sergi Roberto is intercepted by Kroos.
1'
We're underway in El Clasico.
Two months after the fixture was postponed, the two titans of Spanish football face off in the first Clasico of the season. Barcelona hold the advantage at the top of the able only on goal difference ahead of their bitter rivals. The Catalan club had reeled off four wins on the bounce after a surprise defeat to Levante in November. However, Ernesto Valverde's men dropped two points last time out against Real Sociedad as Alexander Isak's strike earned his team a point on home soil. Barca will have to be stronger at the back this evening against Madrid to land the first blow in the rivalry this term.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of El Clasico in LaLiga between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Camp Nou.
Real Madrid also dropped points last time out, although Karim Benzema's late goal saved them from a defeat at the Mestalla to Valencia. Carlos Soler's strike appeared to have put the home side on course of the victory, but Benzema continued his excellent term by striking in stoppage time. The result extended Los Blancos' unbeaten run in all competitions to 11 matches, and those credentials will be put to the test this evening against Barca. Their record in El Clasico has been poor of late and a performance is needed to swing the balance of power back in the favour of Zinedine Zidane's men in the rivalry and the title race.
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Nelson Semedo, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Sergi Roberto, Ivan Rakitic, Frenkie de Jong; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann.
BARCELONA SUBS: Sergio Busquets, Neto, Carles Alena, Arturo Vidal, Samuel Umtiti, Carles Perez, Ansu Fati.
REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Thibaut Courtois; Daniel Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Ferland Mendy; Federico Valverde, Casemiro, Toni Kroos; Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Isco.
Ernesto Valverde will be slightly concerned by his team's performance at the break. They've been forced to play on the counter rather than dicate the terms of the game. Madrid have done the majority of the pressing and have put the home side under duress at the back. Barca will have to play on the front foot in the second period to emerge with the three points tonight.
Barcelona face Deportivo Alaves in their final match before LaLiga's winter break on Saturday at Camp Nou, while Real Madrid host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday at the Bernabeu.
Thanks for joining our commentary this evening. Until next time, goodbye.
REAL MADRID SUBS: Alphonse Areola, Eder Militao, Nacho Fernandez, Luka Modric, Luka Jovic, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Silva.
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