Football fans from all over the world, it is that time of year again – El Clasico is here. Real Madrid will host Barcelona on Saturday but this time with a twist; a 12pm kick-off for UK viewers awaits.

Will an early start contribute to a light-hearted contest between two great clubs? I highly doubt that. There will still be plenty of energy, enthusiasm and endeavour on show from the first minute to the last…

There isn’t much value in backing both teams to score at 1/3 but fans will be expecting the two sides to create plenty of chances in attack.

With that in mind, the 23/4 on offer for both teams to score in both halves carries more appeal. I looked at a few of the biggest betting markets ahead of Saturday’s contest...

Real Must Be Ruthless To Keep Pace In Title Race

Zinedine Zidane’s side find themselves trailing Barcelona by 11 points and only a win will do for Real here.

Los Blancos are favourites at 27/25 to secure a crucial victory on Saturday and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Real pull out all the stops. Punters expecting the hosts to play well can back Madrid at 11/25 to score over 1.5 goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo has struggled to inspire confidence in La Liga so far, scoring just four goals in 11 games. The Portugal international has bagged eight goals in his last seven appearances in all competitions though and is valued at 5/6 to get his name on the scoresheet.

Meanwhile, 888sport are offering a SPECIAL1/5 for Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to score, 3/1 for neither to score. Make of that one what you will…

Do Barcelona Stick With A Draw Or Twist For The Win?

The visitors will have a game plan and it all depends on Ernesto Valverde’s way of thinking ahead of this contest.

Would a draw be a good result? In the grand scheme of things, yes but Real’s struggles may tempt the Barcelona boss to go all out for the win. Barcelona are a general 43/20 chance to secure a win over their oldest and fiercest rivals.

via GIPHY

An open and expansive encounter is expected but Barca may surprise us by standing tall at the back and keeping things tight.

The draw at half-time is priced at 6/4 in our La Liga odds and plenty of punters will be keen to support La Blaugrana before Saturday. Trying to guess how Barcelona will play could be tricky…

Prediction

Over 6.5 cards is always a decent bet for El Clasico and punters can get 22/25 for this to land here. Barcelona will be quietly confident of avoiding defeat and that makes 3/4 for an away win OR draw an exceptional price.

Barcelona are by far and away the strongest club in Spain right now and another positive result will see Valverde’s men move one step closer to the La Liga title.

REAL MADRID 2-2 BARCELONA (Priced at 9/1 with 888sport)

*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*

Alex is a sports betting tipster, specialising in Premier League football, the Champions League and horse racing.

He loves placing a weekly accumulator on the football at the weekend and dreams of landing the big winner that will take him back to Las Vegas.

As well as writing sports betting tips for 888sport since 2015, Alex has produced content for several international media companies, such as Goal.com and The SPORTBible.