2017-18 La Liga - El Calsico FCB Vs Real Madrid @ Camp Nou Sunday May 06,2018

Real Madrid will be aiming to become the first team to beat Barcelona in La Liga this season as they face their rivals in El Clasico on Sunday May 06,2018

 Even though there will be little impact of the ‘clasico’ with Barcelona already crowned champions and Real Madrid booking their spot in the Champions League next season, it is still being regarded as ‘the clasico of honour’.

It will certainly be the 38th and  last ‘clasico’ for Andres Iniesta and possibly Gareth Bale, who is expected to consider his future at Real in the summer.

MATCH FACTS

• This will be the 238th Clasico in all competitions. Barcelona have won 93 and Real Madrid 95.
• Barca have failed to win in their past three Clasicos at the Nou Camp in all competitions (D1 L2). Their last win against Real Madrid at home was in March 2015.
• Real could be the first team to reach 400 goals in Clasicos (399 currently - Barcelona have scored 387 goals).
• Barcelona can reach their 50th La Liga win at home against Real Madrid (W49 D18 L20). Only against four teams have they won more often at home: Espanyol (66), Athletic (61), Real Sociedad (60) and Sevilla (57).
• They are looking to win both league games against Real Madrid in a single season for the first time since 2013-14, under Gerardo Martino.
• Barca have scored in each of their past 20 league games against Real Madrid (46 goals), the second longest run of any team in El Clasico (Real scored in 22 from 1959 to 1969).
• Lionel Messi is the all-time top-scorer in El Clasico (25) - Cristiano Ronaldo (17) could equal Alfredo di Stefano (18) as Madrid's top El Clasico scorer.
• Messi has failed to score in his past four Clasicos at the Nou Camp in La Liga.
• Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 11 goals in his past 11 visits to the Nou Camp in all competitions. All 11 goals were scored from inside the box and only one from the penalty spot.
• Three different players could make their 38th appearance in El Clasico - Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos. Manolo Sanchis (43) holds the record, above Paco Gento and Xavi (42).
• Real Madrid have seen 14 red cards in the 31 Clasicos they have played since 2009-10 in all competitions - nine more than Barcelona in that period.

The Match ended in a 2-2 draw

Gareth Bale hit a sublime equaliser for Real Madrid against champions Barcelona, who survived playing with 10 men for 45 minutes to move to within three games of going the entire La Liga season undefeated.

Sergi Roberto was shown a straight red card with the score 1-1 at the end of the first half of an ill-tempered El Clasico after he appeared to slap Real defender Marcelo.

Roberto had earlier provided the cross for an unmarked Luis Suarez to fire the hosts into the lead before Cristiano Ronaldo bundled the equaliser after Karim Benzema's downward header.

Lionel Messi put the champions 2-1 ahead on the counter-attack only for Bale to level with a sweetly struck first-time finish.

Real's Ronaldo was substituted at half-time after suffering an ankle sprain while scoring.

This draw felt like a win for Barcelona, who stay 15 points ahead of their arch-rivals despite Roberto's dismissal.

Champions League finalists Real have now failed to beat Barca in the past four league attempts and their frustrations increased when they were denied a clear penalty after Jordi Alba caught Marcelo.

The tone for another bad-tempered game between these two giants was set when Real refused to give Barca a guard of honour after Ernesto Valverde's side secured a 25th La Liga title last weekend.

Instead Valverde and his backroom team lined up to applaud the players off the pitch at the end of a match littered with eight yellow cards.

No team in the modern era of La Liga has managed to go through an entire season undefeated yet Barca are now 270 minutes away from achieving that feat.

They still have to negotiate home games against Villarreal and Real Sociedad, along with an away match against Levante, but it will require something special to end their 42-match unbeaten league record stretching 13 months.

Once again there was no shortage of talking points after another fascinating game between Spain's two most successful teams.

Andres Iniesta received a standing ovation when he was substituted in the second half in his 38th and final Clasico while Ronaldo's injury, three weeks before Real meet Liverpool in Kiev, is a concern.

Bale was anonymous for long spells and can consider himself fortunate to have still been on the pitch when he equalised.

The Welshman had already escaped yellow cards for hacking at Iniesta's ankle and a late ugly challenge on Samuel Umtiti before he was eventually cautioned for bringing down substitute Nelson Semedo.

His goal was a sumptuous finish with his left foot which comfortably beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen.