El Clasico Preview: 5 Things to watch out for

On Sunday, Barcelona faces off against Real Madrid in a clash and every football fan in the world will have their eyes glued to the screen. Four points separate the two teams, with Barcelona currently first and Real lying in seventh place.

Both teams come to this match by winning their respective Champions League fixtures but achieved that in contrasting ways. Also, worth noting is the fact that Sunday's El Clasico will be the first one to not feature either of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. This marks the end of an era and adds a unique flavor ahead of the clash of the heavyweights.

Here are some things to watch out for when El Clasico hits our television this weekend:

1. Will Lopetegui survive?

Lopetegui will want his players to give a performance of a lifetime

All eyes come Sunday will be on the beleaguered manager of Real Madrid. Julen Lopetegui has suffered some torrid time during the last month. After a bright start to the season, Real have gone through a rough patch of games. Los Blancos went 5 games without a win, which has put pressure on the Spanish coach. Real also failed to score in 4 of them which has raised the question whether Los Blancos have addressed the lack of goals following Cristiano Ronaldo's departure.

While they finally returned to winning ways in their last game against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League, Real was far from convincing. Reports are circling that Lopetegui will be relieved of his duties if Real lose on Sunday. While the players have publicly backed their manager, the board has yet to make their feelings known.

2. Messi-less Barca

Messi is out with a broken arm and will be in the sidelines cheering his team

With Messi injured, Barcelona will have to make do without their captain. They did well enough to beat Inter without Messi, with Rafinha getting the surprise call-up to replace the Argentine. The Brazilian then repaid Valverde's faith by opening the scoring and will be in contention to start again.

Other options could be to start Dembele instead of Rafinha. The Frenchman has had a rollercoaster time with the Blaugrana. While he gives pace and a more direct threat than Rafinha, his passing still leaves a lot to be desired.

No other changes from the squad that faced Inter are expected. The back four of Jordi Alba, Clement Lenglet, Gerard Pique and Sergio Roberto will be accompanied by Arthur, Busquets, and Rakitic in the midfield. What remains to be seen is who will join Suarez and Coutinho up front.

3. Barca Complacency

Jordi Alba scores the second goal against Inter Milan

Barcelona did beat Inter Milan with relative ease without Messi to top their group and has one foot in the knockout stages of the Champions League. But they should not expect the same sort of respect from their eternal rivals that the San Siro team gave them on Wednesday.

Los Blancos may be without Cristiano Ronaldo and suffering through a poor patch of form, but they still have world class players like Modric, Kroos, Bale, and Ramos. Real are a different beast and will be eager to kickstart their campaign after some disappointing weeks.

Barcelona should not be complacent against a poor Real side after suffering a poor run themselves

One should also remember that Barcelona too had their problems in La Liga, where they dropped points and also lost a match. Even though the Blaugrana are four points ahead of Real, the margin would have been even more had they taken full advantage of their rival's lack of form. Barcelona should be wary of a Real team who want to prove to the world that they are not done yet.

4. Source of goals for Real

Real Madrid will want Benzema, Asensio, and Bale to fire them to a victory

One reason for Real Madrid's wretched run has been their goal drought. The Post-Cristiano Ronaldo period has been tough on Los Blancos. They had to suffer their worst run without scoring a goal. A run which stretched for 4 matches. They finally broke it when Marcelo scored, but they have scored only 2 more since then and the Brazilian left-back scored one of them. For a team that contains world-class attackers, the lack of goals is a real concern.

Los Blancos will be relieved that Benzema ended his drought with a goal against Plzen and will be hoping he scores again come Sunday. Bale will also be under the microscope and has the opportunity to show everyone he is Real's main man in Camp Nou. Asensio is another threat who could give Barca's backline headaches with his pace and dribbles. Barcelona will be keen to lock him down after he made them suffer in last year Super Copa.

5. An El Clasico consisting of humans

With Messi injured and Cristiano Ronaldo in Turin, Sunday's El Clasico will be the first in more than a decade without the two of football's greatest players. Both have been described otherworldly by many, and without them, the Clasico will be played between teams consisting of earthly humans.

It really marks an end of a period where the two titans clashed along with their respective teams and everything else really faded in front of their epic rivalry. The match will also be a preview of the future without these two greats and give an opportunity for the likes of Dembele, Suarez, Coutinho, Asensio, and Bale to take center stage.

Edited by Deepanshu Sharma