EL Clasico: Once again the deining moment of the Spanish season

At 9pm local time on Sunday 98,000 fans in FC Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium and a worldwide television audience of around 1 billion people will watch what has become the most important club game in the world as Barca entertain arch-rivals Real Madrid in a game which has become known as 'El Clasico.'

The two biggest sides in Spain will go head to head once again over 90 minutes which will go a long way towards deciding the destination of this season's BBVA Primera Liga title.

Barca go into the match with a one point lead over Real Madrid after slowly clawing their way back from five points down at the start of 2015 and a win would lift them four clear of the side who are now their only realistic title rivals.

A win for Madrid would see them leapfrog back to the top with the destiny of the title firmly in their hands.

As always in this kind of game, all eyes will be on the stars: Leo Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez for Barca and Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale for Madrid. Messi has been on fire and his 32 league goals have seen him overtake an out of sorts Ronaldo as the league's top scorer. Bale had been doubted by the press and fans, but last week saw him score twice to give Madrid a 2-0 win over Levante.

However, the Clasico is about more than the star strikers and much will depend on how Luka Modric, who is still working back to match-fitness and a tired Tony Kroos can impose themselves on the Barca midfield, still waiting to see if Sergio Busquets can recover from an ankle injury which kept him out of their midweek Champions League tie against Manchester City.

That game means Barca have only three days to prepare for the Clasico, whereas Real have had all week, but that is unlikely to be a factor with confidence and will to win bigger factors on the night.

What will be vital is how both defenses deal with their rivals' attacking threat and much could depend on Sergio Ramos, who returned to action for Madrid a week ago. Ramos should add steel to a Madrid back line which looked shaky without him and put Iker Casillas under pressure in the Madrid goal.

Casillas was 'rested' last weekend, Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti now has to make a big decision: does he bring him back for the big game or continue with Keylor Navas, who last week was a virtual spectator against Levante. Whoever plays will have more work to do on Sunday...and most of the world will be watching. Endi