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Sunday's Clasico may decide Spanish league title

Xinhua, April 22, 2017 Adjust font size:

Real Madrid entertain FC Barcelona in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday night in a game which could all but decide the destination of this season's Liga Santander title.

Madrid go into the game with three points more than Barca and with one more game left to play so a home win would give them a six-point advantage with a game in hand and with a friendly looking fixture calendar for their remaining six matches.

Even a win for Barca on Sunday would still leave the destiny of the title in Madrid's hands, but would mean they had no room for slip-ups between now and the end of the season.

The two sides go into the match on the back of differing fortunes in midweek, with Madrid sealing a Champions League semi-final tie against Atletico Madrid following a controversial win against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, while Barca huffed and puffed but were unable to beat Juventus, who held them to a 0-0 draw in the Camp Nou Stadium.

With Barca playing on Wednesday and Madrid on Tuesday, Zinedine Zidane's side have had 24 hours more to prepare for the tie, although the fact they needed extra time to beat Bayern may have taken its toll on the legs of some players.

Sergio Ramos and Nacho will continue as Madrid's only fit central defenders, while Gareth Bale is working to be fit after missing the last week with a calf injury.

Should the Welshman start it would mean Isco and Marco Asensio, both of whom have been in fine form of late, starting the game from the bench and many think it may be better for Bale to start on the subs' bench.

Barcelona meanwhile are without Neymar, who will serve the second game of a three-match ban, although the club has appealed the decision to the Spanish Court of Arbitration in Sport in the hope to get the ban overturned, or at least delayed to have the Brazilian available in the Bernabeu.

If Neymar is unfit, Barca boss, Luis Enrique will have to decide whether Arda Turan, Denis Suarez or Paco Alcacer plays alongside Luis Suarez and Leo Messi, who has not scored in his last six 'Clasicos.'

As always the game will capture highlights all around the world, with around 70 different TV cameras sending images to a potential TV audience of around 650 million, who will watch attentively as the destiny of the league is played out over 90 dramatic minutes. Enditem