Full steam ahead of 'Clásico'

The certainties all come from within the Barcelona camp, the league leaders have successfully negotiated what was billed to be a tough spell, during which they would have to soldier on without their star man, Lionel Messi. As for the question marks, they mainly revolve around the capital club, who trail their arch-rivals by three points, and whose play has so far failed to convince, notably against PSG and Sevilla. Rafa's side has been on the receiving end of stinging criticism, and 'Los Blancos' all of a sudden find themselves under massive pressure, all brought on by the reality that defeat to Barça would leave Rafa Benetez treading on thin ice.
As always, this one game is at the centre of attention in the footballing world. There's no other fixture which generates quite the same level of expectation throughout the world as La Liga's biggest does. This owes much to on-field events, but also in this case, to the intensified security measures to be rolled out both inside and around the Santiago Bernabéu. The Paris attacks have taken centre stage in the build-up to this Clasico showdown.
The game very much has a feel of a big reunion to it. Having been plagued by injuries in the opening weeks of the season, both teams have now got the majority of their players back fit. The issue, however, for those who are returning to the fold is that the Cl?sico is really not the sort of game in which you can gently ease your way back into things.