Who will get Barcelona and Real Madrid's goals in El Clasico without Messi and Ronaldo?

Matt Jones - Editor 18:48 28/10/2018
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  • Tonight’s El Clasico won’t feature two of the beautiful game’s greats for the first time in 11 years.

    Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been intrinsic elements to one of club football’s most iconic fixtures for well over a decade – the last time neither featured in a Clasico was December 23, 2007, when a Julio Baptista goal earned Los Blancos a 1-0 win at the Camp Nou.

    Fast forward to 2018 and Ronaldo has departed to Juventus, while Blaugrana talisman Messi misses the match due to a broken arm.

    Both players have dominated the fixture when they’ve featured. Ronaldo is joint top scorer in Clasico’s for Real – his 18 goals rank alongside another club legend Alfredo Di Stefano.

    Messi, meanwhile, is head and shoulders Barca’s top contributor in this fixture. He has 26 Clasico goals – 12 more than striker Cesar who played for the club between 1939 and 1955.

    29 10 Barca

    So, without the two main protagonists, who will score the goals in the first Clasico of the 2018/19 season?

    Of the starting XIs, Messi’s Barcelona goalscoring feats are even more staggering. Luis Suarez is closest to him with six Clasico goals – but the 11 for Barca have only 10 between them.

    Real’s stats are slightly better. Between the starting side, they have 19 goals – one more than Ronaldo managed in his Clasico career – with Karim Benzema leading the way on nine.

    29 10 real madrid

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