Barcelona v Real Madrid: La Liga title on the line in clásico – live | La Liga

Tim Steppard gets in touch: “Never thought beloved and Bayern would ever be in the same sentence. Rather than FC Hollywood Real surely are appropriately more like the Windsors.”

As it stands at half-time:

As it stands. Barca are heading to a second successive title. Two fine goals have them on course, and though Madrid have not fallen apart – yet – it’s an awful long way back for a team struggling for coherency.

45+1 min: Joao Cancelo takes on Trent, who does his defensive job well. Madrid are yet to chuck in the towel just yet.

45 min: Pedri chants ringing out, as he takes control in midfield. Three minutes have been added on.

43 min: Trent is brought down by Dani Olmo. Madrid go on the attack, and Camavinga’s shot is blocked. A quick counter almost sends away Fermin Lopez. He’s the out-ball, with Trent being picked as a possible weakness.

42 min: Another free-kick from Rashford but this time it from a wider angle and Courtois punches it out with some ease.

40 min: Colin Livingstone gets in touch: “Well, first time Tchouameni hasn’t hit the target this week.”

Justin Kavanagh: “Just joining the game… 2-0 already? I would have thought Real Madrid would have more fight in them. They’re certainly less than a club these days.”

Camavinga gets the first booking, smashing downwards on Dani Olmo.

39 min: From the corner, Olmo slices wide. Madrid’s defence is rather less than secure.

38 min: Ooof, Rashford zips clear, afterburners on, from his own half, and forces a fine save from Courtois, after a fine ball from Eric Garcia. Great football all round.

37 min: Matt Dony gets in touch: “What a curious player Rashford is. There was a three or four month spell after the last World Cup when I genuinely think he was the best player in the world. (I say that as someone with a disdain for both Man United and England.) He hit an almighty, frustrating purple patch. But he’s had equally deep nadirs. And, let’s face it, he was monumentally badly managed at United. He’s generally flourished at Barcelona without pulling up trees, and that’s not exactly a low-profile gig. But he’s still hardly a shoo-in for this summer’s World Cup. At his best, he sort of reminds of of peak Sadio Mane. And that’s as high praise as I can imagine.”

36 min: Gonzalo and Martin clatter into each other. It’s getting tetchy out there, a few challenges coming in.

34 min: Alasdair Morrison gets in touch: “Is it just me or is Tino Livramento the spit of Pau Cubarsi? Genuine double take and Glendenning style “when did he move there?” moment.

“On a side note, always been a fan of your musical asides on the pod, not sure if you’re an electronic music fan, looking forward to the new Boards of Canada? If not, what are you listening to?”

I have heard the first song from the new one, looking forward to the whole album. I have everything they released, barring some of the early bootlegged stuff. Have lots of electronic stuff, off to see Kraftwerk and Autechre this year, not for the first time.

33 min: Tchouameni smashes wide, having been laid up by Vinicius.

32 min: Gavi, for such a small player, likes a tactical foul or two. This time, Camavinga is the recipient.

30 min: Barcelona are turning on the style, though this time Dani Olmo, a player of such movement and rare grace, is offside this time.

29 min: Charles Antaki gets in touch: “Thought for the day. If you’re going to win the league, you might as well do it playing fast, confident, entertaining football. And now, back to the London Stadium.”

28 min: Rebekah Voss gets in touch: “Mr. Brewin, my beloved FC Bayern has earned itself the moniker of “FC Hollywood” due to its tendency to start drama where there is none. Not undeserved, I must say; what went down with Nagelsmann and Tuchel was a comedy of errors that I never thought I would see again. I am seeing it now with the mighty Madrid. It makes me wonder if Real Madrid deserves the title of “FC Hollywood”more than Bayern.”

27 min: Colum Fordham gets in touch: “Rashford couldn’t have chosen a better moment to cement his place in the Barca team and convince Tuchel of his worth. What a stunning free kick from a position far more favourable to a left-footed player. That should set this El Clasico ablaze.”

26 min: Madrid have come back into it. Barcelona will always offer up chances. Their fans are already doing the olé stuff when their team starts passing the ball around.

24 min: A second look at that Gonzalo miss reveals he failed to make a proper connection.

23 min: Gonzalo steals between Martin and Cubarsi but hits the side-netting. That’s the closest yet for Madrid. Then Bellingham gets away and goes close to setting up Vinicius.

21 min: The party has already started in the Camp Nou. Madrid players have to deal with this barrage of noise. They’ve been well off it.

19 min: Barcelona’s switching of positions took Madrid apart there, and Lamine Yamal in the stands enjoyed that. Glum faces for Jude and Trent. This could get ugly, uglier than the scenes inside the dressing room?

Cubarsi sets up a patient, glorious move, with Olmo’s flick sent to Ferran, and the finish is vicious.

16 min: Brahim Diaz is limping one minute, chasing a Gonzalo pass the next. He takes a whack from a Barca defender but is OK to keep playing.

15 min: Bellingham is fouled, and tells the referee that he’s been fouled twice now. This time it was Dani Olmo rather than Gavi.

14 min: Another piece of Brahim ball-carrying, and Trent bombs on, and that means Camavinga has to run back and cover.

13 min: Another “Trent” corner, knocked behind. Tchouameni heads the third in the sequence over the bar.

11 min: Brahim Diaz has been lively, and he forces a corner that “Trent” will take, which is flicked behind. Tchouameni has taken his shirt off for some reason.

10 min: Whatever happens to Rashford, and his future is uncertain, scoring a goal in a clasico is a special moment to take away.

A short run-up, and Rashford smashes in, and Courtois has no answer. What a goal!

8 min: Rudiger crops down Ferran. Barca have a free-kick on the very edge of the box.

6 min: Bellingham turns and is tripped by Gavi; that was a nasty one. Rashford gallops on and Asencio, who starts the game because of an injury to Dean Huijsen, comes across to clear.

4 min: Joao Cancelo sweeps the ball crossfield, it’s a slow pace so far, with injections of pace. Fermin Lopez sets off, past Trent Alexander-Arnold and his pass to Rashford is only just intercepted.

3 min: Long run, unchallenged, by Brahim, and he passes to Vinicius who shoots on goal but it’s not a clean hit.

1 min: Jeers great Madrid as they pass the ball around. Ferran Torres pushes up, and Gavi robs Brahim Diaz.

Vini Jr and Pedri shake hands at the toss of the coin ahead of a minute’s silence for Hansi Flick’s father, less a minute’s silence than a solemn moment of violin music.

Quite the scene as the two teams enter, a mosaic greeting them. Three Englishmen in the starting lineups, a first.

The teams are in the tunnel. Some warmth between the two sets of players before they head out. They won’t be able to show that once that kicks off.

Sad news: Hansi Flick’s father passed away in the small hours but the Barcelona coach is present in Camp Nou.

Pictures emerging of a fan in the stand with a Jose Mourinho scarf. A plant by the great man?

This Clasico win in October put Madrid five points clear.

The trophy will be presented to Barcelona tonight if they manage to put Real Madrid away.

Frenkie de Jong is on the Barcelona bench, having spoken to the Guardian last weekend.

De Jong faced regular rumours about a potential exit, with one leak claiming to detail his salary, though he says the figures were inaccurate. “The press can really influence how people see you; that’s something I especially noticed during that period. Back then, it was all about my contract, with all sorts of figures about what I was supposedly earning, while that was not true. But then you notice they [the outside world] see you differently from that point; they judge you differently … It starts to get into people’s heads.”

Last time out for both teams.

Reports from Barcelona and some social media footage of Real Madrid’s bus being attacked, and a window smashed.

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): J. Garcia; E. Garcia, Cubarsi, Gerard Martin, Cancelo; Gavi, Pedri; Ferran Torres, Olmo, Lopez; Rashford. Subs: Szczesny, Aller, Balde, Araujo, Lewandowski, Raphinha, Casado, Roony, De Jong, Bernal, Kounde, Espart.

Real Madrid (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger Huijsen, Fran Garcia; Camavinga, Tchouameni; Gonzalo Garcia, Bellingham, Diaz; Vinicius Junior. Subs: Lunin, Sergio Mestre, Alaba, Asencio, Carreras, Mastantuono, Cestero, Jiminez, Palacios, Thiago.

Sid Lowe has previewed a crucial Clasico.

This is a crisis that is cultural. When Vinícius Júnior stormed off having been substituted towards the end of the clásico in the autumn, threatening to walk straight out of the team, it brought the disconnect between him and Xabi Alonso into the open and in doing so made it irretrievable. He was not entirely alone in feeling that: Valverde too had made his discontent public. Nor, though, was the feeling unanimous. “It’s not the manager’s fault,” Tchouaméni had insisted, blame instead lying inside the dressing room, sides starting to be taken.

About that quiet week, it’s got to the stage where Jose Mourinho, just the man to calm things down, is in line for a return.

Been a quiet week at Real Madrid? Well, even by the standards of the soap opera that is the world football’s equivalent of the Borgias, it’s been chaotic. On Thursday a fight with Aurélien Tchouaméni at Valdebebas left Fede Valverde bleeding and with what a club communique described as “craniofacial trauma”. Kylian Mbappe is missing, too, his popularity rating down at absolute zero. What’s worse is that Barcelona can clinch a second successive Liga title with a draw.