Barcelona great Iniesta gives his verdict on El Clasico as LaLiga title race heats up

Nine-time LaLiga champion and Barcelona icon Andres Iniesta has claimed that this year's El Clasico will be more important than ever as the LaLiga title race heats up towards the business end of the season. Barcelona will make the trip to the Spanish capital on Saturday, April 10 to face Real Madrid for the highly-anticipated El Clasico. Iniesta also 'hoped' for Barcelona to come out victorious against arch-rivals Real Madrid at the weekend so Ronald Koeman's men can extend the gap between themselves and Los Blancos. 

Barcelona great Andres Iniesta talks about the importance of upcoming El Clasico

While speaking to LaLigaTV on Thursday, four-time UCL winner Andres Iniesta gave his verdict on the upcoming El Clasico at the weekend. The 36-year-old midfielder, who currently plies his trade at J1 League club Vissel Kobe, said, "This year's Clasico will be more important than ever. There's no doubt that this game will have a huge impact on the title race. I hope that Barça win and increase their advantage over Madrid, then we'll see what happens with Atletico."

Iniesta played in 38 El Clasico fixtures during his 16-year sojourn at Barcelona. All in all, he scored three goals and recorded six assists against Los Blancos. Iniesta left Barcelona in 2018 to join Vissel Kobe. 

Real Madrid vs Barcelona preview

The Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona on Saturday is the key game of Matchday 30 in LaLiga with the winner assured of going to the top of the LaLiga table for at least 24 hours and perhaps longer. Barcelona are in second place on the LaLiga table, just one point behind league leaders Atletico Madrid while Real Madrid a further two points behind the Catalans, but with a better head-to-head goal difference than their two title rivals. 

Real Madrid will be without inspirational club caption Sergio Ramos, who has a muscle injury, and Raphael Varane who was tested positive for the coronavirus, while Eden Hazard could return to the substitutes' bench following his latest injury. Meanwhile, Barcelona are working to have Gerard Pique available, but Ronald Araujo should be back, even though Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho are both long-term absentees.

Real Madrid vs Barcelona live stream: How to watch El Clasico live? 

In India, there will be no live broadcast of the LaLiga game. However, fans can watch the Real Madrid vs Barcelona live stream on the official LaLiga page on Facebook. Live scores and updates from the game will be available on the Twitter handles of both teams.

Image Credits - FCBarcelona Youtube