BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Real Madrid and a red-hot Kylian Mbappé host Barcelona on Sunday aiming to hit back at their rivals after losing all four clasicos last season.
Mbappé has scored a La Liga-leading 10 goals in nine rounds – four more than his nearest chaser – and another five goals in the Champions League over the first two months of the campaign.
Barcelona arrives at the Santiago Bernabeu with injury concerns in attack and coach Hansi Flick heading for a seat in a stadium box, after he saw a red card for protesting in the last round.
Lamine Yamal will start for the visitors after having played two games since returning from a nagging groin injury. But Robert Lewandowski is ruled out for Barcelona with a hamstring injury and forward Raphinha is doubtful.
All eyes will be on the first clasico of the season to see whether new coach Xabi Alonso can get Madrid out of its rut against Barcelona.
Barcelona swept the quarter of clasicos in all competitions last season by a combined score of 16-7.
Barcelona won the Liga fixture in Madrid 4-0 to kick off that run. It then won 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup, 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final, and again 4-3 in La Liga.
“Last year they showed some great finishing, and we have to try to stop that firepower while being crisper up front ourselves,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said.
Madrid beat Juventus 1-0 with a goal by Jude Bellingham on Wednesday, but Alonso’s side suffered a 5-0 humiliation at Atletico Madrid in another big La Liga matchup last month.
Barcelona arrives after a 6-1 win against Olympiakos. Midfielder Fermín López scored a hat trick and Marcus Rashford added two more goals.
Madrid leads defending champion Barcelona by two points at the top of the Spanish league table.
Third-placed Villarreal and Atletico, in fourth, will look to close the gap at the top. Villarreal is at Valencia on Saturday, while Atletico travels to fifth-placed Real Betis on Monday with both level on points.
Besides Lewandowski, Barcelona is without injured midfielder Dani Olmo and goalkeeper Joan García. Wojciech Szczęsny will be in goal.
Flick said last week that he hopes Raphinha will recover from a leg injury in time for the game. Ferran Torres was in Barcelona’s squad for the Olympiakos game but never left the bench after having recently been sidelined briefly with a leg issue.
Madrid will be without injured defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Antonio Rüdiger.
Rashford is in a strong position to start up front for Barcelona along with Yamal. The on-loan English forward has scored six times since joining from Manchester United.
Pau Cubarsí is a lock to start in Barcelona’s defense. The 18-year-old and either Éric García or Ronald Araújo will have the task of slowing down Mbappé.
“Everyone knows how talented (Mbappé) is, and all their players are world class,” Cubarsí said. “But we have to focus on our game.”
Arda Guler has emerged as Madrid’s biggest surprise to fill the gap left by the exits of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric over the last two summers. The 20-year-old Turkey midfielder has made five assists and scored three goals in all competitions this season.
The clasico comes with La Liga lamenting the collapse of plans to hold a regular-season game between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami next month.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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