Real Madrid vs Barcelona, El Clasico: A look at head-to-head record and key stats ahead of Santiago Bernabeu tie

Real Madrid and Barcelona. Two of the biggest football clubs in the world. The two sides are slated to face each other for the 250th in the history of competitive football and 185th time in La Liga on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu. Both the teams presently are at the top of the table, differentiated only by their goal difference which puts Barcelona atop, followed by defending league champions Real Madrid. Barcelona had ended their winless streak last season with an emphatic 4-0 win in March and Xavi’s side now aim to script a double over Real Madrid in a year for the first time since 2019. Real Madrid, on the other hand, are aiming to claim the La Liga title for a successive time in a row, which will be their first since 2006/08 season. Ahead of the blockbuster El Clasico tie in Bernabeu we take a look at the head-to-head record and key stats…

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD:

Real Madrid presently lead 76-73 against Barcelona in 184 La Liga meetings. Overall as well, Los Blancos leads 100-97 in 249 meetings across competitions. Real Madrid have also won four of their last five Clasico meetings, their only loss being that 0-4 loss in March earlier this year .

ALSO READ: El Clasico: A look at Barcelona in numbers ahead of the side’s clash against Real Madrid

BARCELONA AT SANTIAGO BERNBABEU:

Real Madrid have also won 54 of those La Liga matches at home, at their very own Santiago Bernabeu, in 92 matches, implying that Barcelona have managed just 23 away wins. Overall, the win-loss record for Barceloan at Bernabue stands 30-66.

The last time Barcelona had won at Bernabue was in 2019 when Ivan Rakitic’s sole effort had differentiated the two sides. The victory was part of Barcelona’s winning streak of four matches in Real Madrid’s den between 2015 and 2019.

ALSO READ: El Clasico: A look at Real Madrid in numbers ahead of the side’s clash against Barcelona

KEY STATS:

1. Despite meeting 184 times in La Liga, both have scored the same number of goals against each other with Barcelona’s 4-0 win in March leaving them at par with Real Madrid with 295 goals.

2. The era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is gone. Clasico, this time around will be Karim Benzema vs Robert Lewandowski. Messi remains the top scorer in Clasico meetings with 26 goals followed by Ronaldo’s 18 strikes, which is tied wthe the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano. Among active players in La Liga roster, Benzema stands atop with 11 goals, which is the sixth-highest overall. Lewandowski, on the other hand, will be making his La Liga debut. He presently has nine goals in the league this season, which is the most.

3. Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets will be making is 44th appearance in a Clasico meeting in his career on Sunday. This will take him to the second spot being joint record holder Messi and Sergio Ramos.

4. If Barcelona win on Sunday, Busquets will level Francisco Gento (21 wins in 42 games) with most Clasico wins as a player.