Follow live, minute-by-minute commentary of the of the Spanish La Liga game between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Nou Camp on Monday Nov 29 2010, kick-off 20:00 GMT.
Email Thom Gibbs with your score predictions, Jose Mourinho anecdotes and favourite Spanish (or Catalan) idioms.
10 min: GOAL! Barcelona 1 - Real Madrid 0 (Xavi)
8 min: I count six stepovers from Ronaldo as Puyol is drawn out wide to cover him. He doesn't beat the experienced defender, but does make him slip over before finding Di Maria on the egde of the box. His long shot isn't troubling Valdes.
7 min: Alves' long shot sails just wide. All Barca at the moment.
5 min: Messi, on the ball for the first time wins a corner. Xavis' quick delivery falls at the edge of the box, then to Messi who hits the post with an artful lob from the edge of the box. A ridiculous, marvellous shot.
4 min: Ronaldo gets past Alves with some stepovers and knocks a ball into the six yard box. Victor Valdes just about cuts it out, but looks in pain after falling at Pique's feet in the process. He's hurt his shoulder, poor lamb.
2 min: Pique's long ball almost reaches Villa but Pepe clears to Iniesta. He receives the ball back after several patient passes and looks to play through Pedro. Pepe is there to clear again.
1 min: Cristiano Ronaldo grimaces in the rain. Lionel Messi appears unmoved. Real Madrid get us underway.
19:58: The Camp Nou looks spine-tingling. The 90,000 in the ground are bathing it in the club colours of red, blue and yellow. The players are working their way down the line o' handshakes and we're drawing close to kick off.
19:55: Here are the subs for this evening. Oddly, Higuain has made the Real bench, so he can't be hurt too badly.
Barcelona: Pinto, Bojan, Jeffren, Mascherano, Keita, Maxwell, Adriano.
Real Madrid: Dudek, Arbeloa, Albiol, Lass, Diarra, Pedro Leon, Higuain.
Real Madrid: Dudek, Arbeloa, Albiol, Lass, Diarra, Pedro Leon, Higuain.
The referee is Mr Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez.
19:50: Sky definitely doesn't put as much effort into its montages for La Liga coverage. Where are the overwrought visual effects, clumsy film homages and mindblowingly intense music? All we've had so far tonight is pretty some goals set to innocuous soul. Disappointing. It is raining, which makes me a little bit less jealous of Mark Hughes whose dark grey suit is taking a battering.
19:45: Mourinho's previous visit to the Nou Camp was an exemplerary defensive performance with Internazionale in the Champions League semi-final last season. His 10 men held out for a 1-0 defeat after winning the first leg 3-1, but with Ronaldo and Mesuit Ozil firing on all cylinders going forward surely he won't be so cautious this evening? Real are protecting the Primera Division's only unbeaten record and have lost their four against Barca, so maybe he will? Score predictions via email, please. I'm going for 1-2.
19:40: Mark Hughes has blagged himself a pitchside punditry gig for Sky. He's starring alongside someone that looks like Neville Southall's grandfather. It is actually Gerry Armstrong. Neither are getting beyond the 'stating the bleeding obvious' level of pundity, as is the tradition.
19:35: So Gonzalo Higuain is out for Real after failing a late fitness test. It's Karim Benzema in his place who at €35m isn't a bad replacement, all things considered. Higuain will be a big miss nonetheless. He's already scored seven goals this season, one more than opposite number David Villa. Top of La Liga's scoring chart is Cristiano Ronaldo with 14. Trailing him is Lionel Messi on 13.
19:30: El Clásico is upon us. Well, it's not upon us quite yet, it's kicking off in half-hour. But even that is tremendously exciting news. It's rare that Barcelona v Real Madrid does not qualify as a matchup between La Liga's best two teams, but tonight we're about to witness the cream of Europe facing off against one another. In the biggest stadium in the continent. With Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on opposing sides. And two exceptionally well-dressed managers on the sidelines. You see? It's tremendously exciting.
Who are you behind this evening, and why? Let me know that and anything else you fancy right here.
Here are the line-ups:
Barcelona: (4-3-3) Valdes; Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Messi, Villa, Pedro
Real Madrid: (4-2-3-1) Casillas; Ramos, Pepe, Carvalho, Marcello; Khedira, Alonso; Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo; Benzema
In lieu of a formal match preview, here is a wealth of writing from around the site to whet your appetitive before kick off:
