Clasico preparations switch to South America

Both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will have to wait until Thursday until they are able to train with a full squad of players ahead of Saturday night's Clasico in the Camp Nou Stadium.

The South American World Cup qualifying games played on Tuesday night mean players such as Leo Messi, Luis Suarez, Dani Alves, Javier Mascherano, Keylor Navas and James Rodriguez will only have two sessions with their respective teammates ahead of the game.

However, both Messi and James used their respective appearances for their countries to send out messages which show how they are with their clubs at the moment.

Messi's current moment of form continued as he scored for Argentina in their 2-0 win over Bolivia before immediately setting his sights on netting Barca's 500th goal against Real Madrid this weekend.

The striker considered that a Camp Nou stadium which will pay homage to former player and coach Johan Cruyff, would be a "wonderful place to reach that figure against Real Madrid," he said, adding that "the best thing would be to win in order to extend our (10 point) lead" over Barca's traditional rivals.

James Rodriguez is not enjoying a good season with Real Madrid and could well start Saturday's game on the subs' bench. However, away from the Bernabeu he appears to have found his form and produced a good display as Colombia defeated Ecuador 3-1

"When you play and you have everyone's support, it is a lot easier. I would have liked to have scored, but I am happy with the way I played," said James, hinting that at Madrid at least not everyone is behind him as he would like. Endi