Benzema out as Barcelona look to pounce

Real Madrid talisman Karim Benzema was ruled out of the El Clásico on Sunday, where Barcelona will look to claim a win against their arch-rivals after five consecutive defeats to reduce the gulf between the sides in the points table.

Real Madrid currently sit at the top of the La Liga with 66 points from 28 matches, while Barcelona sit third with 51 points from 27.

In the last five meetings, Real got the better of Barca every time, with the last coming in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals in January, where the Los Blancos edged the Catalans 3-2 after extra-time.

In their aim of getting a sixth consecutive victory over Barca, Real won’t have the services of Benzema, who has scored 22 goals and assisted 11 in the current league campaign.

“Benzema will not be able to play tomorrow,” Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.

In Benzema’s absence, Barcelona will look to continue their recent resurgence and keep them in the title race, even if only mathematically.

The Catalans have been in fine form under new manager Xavi Hernandez as they have not lost a match since late January, accumulating an 11-match unbeaten streak.

Xavi said after their 2-1 win in the Europa League over Galatasaray that they know how difficult at their arch-rivals’ den.

“We are in a good moment, we haven’t lost a game for a long time, but we are going to the Bernabéu, and we know how difficult it is, although we will go with the intention of having a good game,” he said.

With Benzema missing, Real will be looking at Vinicius Jr, who has also been in stellar form this season. The Brazilian has 14 goals and six assists in the league, and his dribble down the right side of Barca’s defence could spell trouble for Dani Alves and co.

Barcelona, on the other hand, will hope for their winter signing, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to continue his goalscoring form. The Gabonese striker already has five goals in the league after joining in January, and has seven in the Blaugrana jersey in total.

The match starts at 2 AM on Monday, and La Liga is expecting a 650 million worldwide audience for the match.