When: 7/29/2017, 7:30PM EDT
Where: hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL
Tickets: Buy Here
La Liga rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona lock horns in a preseason El Clasico in Miami as part of the International Champions Cup which has thus far brought plenty of excitement in front of the football – or soccer – fans across the United States.
Definitely considered the highlight event, the forthcoming El Clasico will see two of Europe and world’s biggest sides collide in what will be a great introduction to the highly-anticipated La Liga season.
Real Madrid
European champions have had a relatively quiet summer.
Zinedine Zidane has kept a low profile thus far in the transfer market having only brought left-back Theo Hernandez from Atletico Madrid and the Spanish midfield sensation Dani Ceballos from Real Betis. On the other end of the spectrum, no less than eight first-team members left the club in what has been a sort of a selling spree from Los Blancos. Portuguese defender Pepe moved to Besiktas on a free transfer after his contract with Real Madrid expired, whereas the out-of-favour left-back Fabio Coentrao was loaned out to Sporting CP. Left winger Burgui was sold to Malaga for €3 million, whereas Diego Llorente moved to Real Sociedad in a €6 million transfer. Mariano Diaz is another lower value sale with his €8 million transfer to Olympique Lyon, while James Rodriguez is the first of three high-end departures. The Colombia international moved to Bayern Munich on a two-year loan deal for which the Bavarians paid €10 million, whereas right-back Danilo moved to Manchester City in a €30 million deal. Alvaro Morata remains the biggest talking point after his €65 million move to Chelsea, which has left Real Madrid with €122 million in their pockets. No one should therefore be surprised to see Real Madrid preparing a world-record €200 million bid for AS Monaco starlet Kylian Mbappe since the majority of the fee would have been collected from summer sales. Heading into the Barcelona clash, Real Madrid would be keen to make amends for a disappointing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City.
Team News
Zinedine Zidane is expected to field his strongest line-up – bar Cristiano Ronaldo – against the Catalans, although he is once again expected to make multiple changes during the game. The Frenchman made all 11 substitutes in a City defeat and there is no reason not to expect it this time around.
Barcelona
It’s all eyes on Neymar in the Barcelona camp at the moment.
The Brazil forward is the biggest talk of the town – and the universe for that matter – as his face keeps popping on the covers around the globe with Paris Saint-Germain pressing hard for a world-record transfer believed to be in excess of €222 million. Neymar is said to be conflicted about the potential move as his head got turned by a chance to earn massive amounts of money and to be given a leading role instead of the current second-fiddle act to Leo Messi. Neymar seems undistracted by all the transfer speculation as he went on to put two brilliant successive shows, against Juventus and Manchester United. The Brazilian ruined Juventus’ defence line by weaving past them before scoring a brace, whereas he also scored the match winner in that 1-0 win over Red Devils. Neymar stripped Antonio Valencia of possession in the penalty box to find the back of the net a minute over the half-hour mark, which was enough to secure back-to-back victories for Barcelona new manager Ernesto Valverde. Barcelona are determined to keep Neymar around for as long as possible and are pushing hard to bring Neymar’s best friend Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in order to persuade him to stay. Liverpool are refusing to sell their prized asset but Barcelona are reportedly prepared to cough up big money and throw Ivan Rakitic to sweeten the deal and Jurgen Klopp could budge in the end.
Team News
Valverde is also expected to field his strongest line-up as he heads into what will officially be his first-ever El Classico. The new Barcelona boss will be keen to make an impression and grab a morale-boosting win which is why he will have his big-name trio Suarez, Messi, Neymar leading the line in attack.
Conclusion
The preseason El Classico in Florida might end up lacking the recognisable flare of emotion, but it should nonetheless be an eventful, action-packed affair.
You don’t want to miss out on a chance to see some of world’s biggest stars in action so hurry up and grab the remaining tickets here to book your place at the stadium before it’s too late.
Verdict: Barcelona + BTTS
Best Odds: 3/1
Bookmaker: William Hill
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