Sunday sees the first El Clasico encounter of the season and Barcelona look set to add to Real Madrid’s misery.
Neither has had sparkling starts to the La Liga season but while Barca appear to have turned the corner, Real are floundering.
No Messi, no problem
Lionel Messi’s arm injury is set to rule him out for a month, but that was not an issue as Barca cruised past Inter Milan 2-0 on Wednesday. They also won 4-0 in the Bernabeu the last time the maestro was not fit enough to start an El Clasico, being introduced after 57 minutes on that occasion in 2015.
Ernesto Valverde’s side are 2.00 to win and seem set to put the final nail in the coffin for under-fire Real boss Julen Lopetegui.
Real issues for Madrid
The post-Cristiano Ronaldo-Zinedine Zidane era was always going to be tricky and despite only taking over in the summer, Lopetegui looks a man running out of time to save his job.
Lopetegui also had a brief spell as a player at Barcelona and it appears the board have highlighted this game to decide his future.
Having ridden their luck in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over Viktoria Plzen, Real are 3.80 to triumph. Another defeat would make it five without a win in La Liga and could spell the end for the Basque.
Alaves an outstanding price
Of the other games on Sunday, Alaves could well take advantage of Villarreal’s European distractions.
El Submarino Amarillo have failed to win either of their previous fixtures after playing in the Europa League this season, although they did beat Rapid Vienna 5-0 on Thursday.
Alaves have won their last two to move into the Champions League places and with El Glorioso unbeaten at home, 3.10 looks the price of the weekend in La Liga.
