BARCELONA VS REAL MADRID EL CLASSICO BETTING PREVIEW

We’re still a few days away from one of the most widely-anticipated matches of the year, the El Classico, but the betting markets are already heating up for this incredible fixture. Blue Square has listed Barcelona as very strong favourites to win the match, and they carry an odds-on price to do so. Barca are available at 5/6 with Real Madrid priced at a lengthy 16/5. The draw is 13/5 and I don’t expect that to be a popular option- both teams are going to go forward until there’s a winner.

The favoured correct score margin is 1-0 to Barcelona, but that doesn’t make any sense to me at all. The 1-1 draw is 7/1, but I seriously fancy at least 4 goals in this match. The top players in the world raise their value by big performances in high profile matches like this and I think the likes of Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Lionel Messi and Xavi will each be looking to put on a show and stamp their authority over this historic fixture.

Backing each team to win 3-2 isn’t a bad idea and they are priced at 25/1 and 28/1 to do so.

There are some very quality prices already on the goalscorers markets with big Zlatan Ibrahimovic considered the most likely player to get on the scoresheet. He’s listed at 6/4 anytime and is just ahead of team-mate Lionel Messi at 13/8. Thierry Henry is carrying a 2/1 price ahead of Pedro and Bojan who trade at 11/4. Andres Iniesta sits at 3/1, Jeffren Suarez sits at 7/2 while Xavi and Seydou Keita can be backed at 4/1.

Cristiano Ronaldo is favoured to do the business for Madrid at 13/8 with Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema at 12/5. Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy both sit at 11/4 while Kaka and Rafael Van der Vaart are available at 3/1. Xabi Alonso trades at 6/1.

We will have more coverage ahead of the match, but our early preview is supremely confident in a high-scoring attack-oriented match that could go either way.