Real Madrid travel to the Camp Nou in the hope of putting a major dent on Barcelona's title defence as one of the biggest club football matches in the world gets ready to enthral. Both teams, though, will have to deal with a few untimely injuries going into this La Liga match on Saturday.
Barcelona might be struggling for form, having drawn their last two La Liga games, but they will be happy to see one of their main players – Andres Iniesta – back in training. Iniesta missed the last six weeks with a knee injury, but returned to training earlier this week.
It remains to be seen if Luis Enrique will name Iniesta in the starting lineup or be satisfied with naming the veteran on the bench.
Samuel Umtiti, the France international defender, is another who has made his comeback from injury, with the former Lyon man playing in the Copa Del Rey draw against Hercules. Fellow defender Jeremy Mathieu, however, is out with a calf injury.
Jordi Alba is doubtful, with knee and ankle problems, but the left-back will hope to recover in time for the biggest game of the season so far, while Arda Turan is expected to be in the squad, having missed last weekend's match against Real Sociedad through illness.
Real Madrid have plenty of problems too, chief of them being Gareth Bale, who will be out for a considerable period of time with an ankle injury, picked up in the Champions League match against Sporting Lisbon. Two more key players in Toni Kroos and Alvaro Morata are also ruled out. Another important player in Casemiro, though, could return to La Liga action.
"I've already decided the starting XI," Real Madrid manager Zidane said. "Casemiro is with us and we all know what he has to offer but we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm happy to have him back because he's getting better every day."
While all the focus from Real Madrid's perspective will be on Cristiano Ronaldo, Barcelona will be glad to see Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar fit and ready to go.
Expected starting XI: Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Mascherano, Pique, Digne; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar.
Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Kovacic, Isco, Modric; Vazquez, Benzema, Ronaldo.
