Barcelona host Real Madrid at Camp Nou on 25 October as Flick chases 100th win

Build-up at Camp Nou

Barcelona host Real Madrid at Camp Nou on 25 October, with kickoff at 8pm in the UK and 21:00 in Spain. El Periódico reports that Barcelona could collect nine wins from their first nine league matches, which would equal the best start to a league season in the competition since 1968/69. The hosts arrive after a Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, 20 October, while Real Madrid closed their match against Leipzig with a 4-1 win. Irish Times lists the fixture as live on Premier Sports 1, and Barcelona hold a six-point lead over their rivals in the table.

Flick and Mourinho before the whistle

Hansi Flick is chasing his 100th win as Barcelona coach, and Barcelona have won six of their seven Clásicos since he arrived in the summer of 2024. Under Flick the club have also won two league titles, two Supercopas and one Copa del Rey. At his pre-match press conference, Flick said he held Mourinho in high regard and declined to get drawn into the refereeing controversies around Real Madrid, saying he preferred to prepare his own team. Mourinho, speaking in his own briefing, avoided Barcelona entirely, called Flick's work optimal, and said there would be no special plan for Lamine Yamal. He also joked about his beard, denied being superstitious, and mentioned referees only twice.

September setbacks at Real Madrid

Real Madrid arrive after a difficult September. Troy Parrott came off the bench to score a late winner for Real Betis at La Cartuja, and two weeks later Atlético beat Madrid 2-1 in the Madrid derby. A challenge by Dean Huijsen on Giuliano Simeone led to a penalty and Atlético's opening goal, leaving Real down to ten men at the decisive moment. Mourinho, who is 63 and the fourth Real Madrid coach in a little over a year, reacted to the defeat by describing the afternoon in unusual terms.

It is all very strange.

He added that a week before the match it was already known who the referee would be, though he said the fault did not lie with the referee personally. Madrid trailed Barcelona by six points at that stage.

The Negreira case hangs over the match

Real Madrid supporters remain angry over payments by Barcelona totalling €8.4 million between 2001 and 2018 to companies controlled by José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the Spanish FA's referees committee. Barcelona and Negreira have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and the club says it made legitimate payments for reports on refereeing. A judicial inquiry opened in March 2023 and has heard witnesses including Joan Laporta, Josep Maria Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell, Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde. La Liga president Javier Tebas said in 2023 that the competition could not act because the matter was time-barred in sports law but not in criminal law. Florentino Pérez, Real Madrid's president, has described the affair as the biggest scandal in football history.

Rodri and the wider rivalry

Rodri, 30, is a Barcelona midfielder who came close to joining Real Madrid this summer, and Madrid made concrete proposals and contacted Mourinho about the move. He has spent years surrounded by Spain team-mates who play for Madrid, which complicated his decision. He is due to play in the Clásico after being left out against PSG.

On the eve of the match, Marcelo, 38, who played for Real Madrid from 2007 to 2022, and Jordi Alba, 37, a Barcelona player from 2012 to 2023, spoke with EL PAÍS in a conversation organised by La Liga. Marcelo recalled Brazilian broadcasters buying rights to Barcelona games in the Ronaldinho era, when every match felt like a Clásico. Alba said he began his career as a forward and winger before being moved to full-back during a run of injuries.