Barca stay top despite defeat

Barca suffered their first league defeat of the season at the Bernabeu tonight, though they still stay top of La Liga table. Despite a strong first half performance, Madrid's greater sharpness in front of goal gave them the points.

A goal at the start of each half, from Raul (2) and Van Nistelroy (50) was enough for Madrid to overcome the reigning champions whose trade mark quality football fell down in the final third where their finishing let them down. Even so, Barca stay two points ahead of their eternal rivals and remain top of the Spanish League.

Attacking tactics

Rijkaard made clear his intentions with the choice of Iniesta, Xavi and Deco in midfield- a skilful trio who after a strong start from Madrid began to impose their one touch football on the more physical Madrid midfield. Madrid's early goal -a Raul header from a Sergio Ramos cross on 2 minutes - allowed them to play their preferred counter attacking game, whilst Barca enjoyed the majority of possession. Madrid could indeed have gone further ahead in the first 20 minutes when Raul hit the bar and Valdes was called on to stop at Robinho's feet.

Messi takes the lead

Soon though, Barca began to impose themselves on the game with an inspirational Messi carving the Madrid defence apart on more than one occasion. First, on 24 minutes, he dribbled past Roberto Carlos and Cannavaro, to set up Gudjohnson, only for the Icelander to fire over, then a few minutes later he himself blasted high after being put through by Iniesta. Gudjohnson was also unlucky not to be given a penalty when Segio Ramos bundled him off the ball in the box.

Emerson lucky to stay on

Real Madrid were being forced onto the back foot and Ronaldinho and Messi suffered a series of heavy tackles as the home team desperately tried to halt Barca's waves of attack. Emerson was very lucky indeed to avoid a second red on 42 minutes after chopping down the Argentinean, but Madrid managed to reach half time with their goal intact and with 11 men still on the pitch, even though Barca certainly looked capable of turning the result around.

Van Nistelrooy finishes the game off

Barca came out with the same attacking intentions in the second half, but just when they looked most likely to threaten the Madrid goal, Van Nistelroy rounded off a rapid Madrid counter attack to make it 2-0 for the home team.

Two nil up, despite Barca's superior football, Madrid now limited themselves to managing their lead and trying to hit Barca on the break. Rijkaard threw on Giuly and Saviola for Deco and Gudjohnson, but despite chances for Ronaldinho and Saviola, Barca failed to reproduce the pace and passing of the first half and the final few minutes of the game were notable more for the pouring rain at the Bernabeu than by any great football.

"El Clasico"

Real Madrid-FC Barcelona the "clasico" of La Liga kicks off at 21.00 local time tonight when the world's two biggest teams meet for the first time this season. Barca go into the game at the top of the table, five points clear of their eternal rivals.

Barca know a win could seriously damage Madrd's title hopes, but they've seen all the forecasts turned on their head this week, following Real's win in Bucharest and their own narrow defeat to Chelsea. A week ago, following their humiliating defeat at Getafe and Barca's commanding win over Seville, not many pundits fancied Capello's team's chances, but an improved performance against Steaua in the Champions League and Barca's own defeat at Stamford Bridge has given the Madrid team a morale booster ahead of the game. In addition, Rijkaard appeared to have rediscovered the best of Ronaldinho last weekend, but the Brazilian again came in for press criticism after the Chelsea defeat. Fortunately, players of Ronaldinho's category are always capable of stepping up to the plate and marking the difference when a big game like this comes along.

Barca determined: Frank Rijkaard's team go to the Bernabeu full of motivation as captain Carles Puyol has insisted, determined to lift the fans after their midweek slip up against Chelsea. The team are out in front in La Liga, with a two point lead over their nearest rivals and five ahead of Madrid, which gives them a comfortable cushion should things not go right in the Bernabeu. A win would, however, seriously damage any pretensions Capello's team might have of making a real challenge this season and it's clear that Barca have everything to win and little to lose tonight.

Madrid in need of points: Although the midweek performance against Steaua has lifted the morale at the Bernabeu, Madrid are much more in need of a win than Barca right now, having won just three games in La Liga this season, drawing two and losing once - last week's insipid defeat at Getafe. Capello's team have found it hard to score so far as well, with just 8 goals against Barca's 14, but their defence has held firm for the most part and Iker Casillas has only conceded three goals – tonight then sees the league's top attack against the meanest defence.

Eto'o and Ronaldo both miss out: The Cameroon striker may have been eclipsed by Ronaldinho's breathtaking performance in last year's fixture, but it was he who opened the scoring for Barca and laid the foundations for the 0-3 win. His long term injury means he'll sit out tonight's game, as will Ronaldo, who was sent off for two yellow cards last week and is suspended for tonight's game. With Gudjohnson and Saviola in line to cover for Eto'o , it is Madrid who will perhaps miss their striker most, especially considering his record of scoring against his ex-team every season since he joined Madrid in 2002.

Capello vs Rijkaard: Fabio Capello and Frank Rijkaard, maestro and pupil in their time at AC Milan, come face to face for the first time tonight. The Barca boss won two Italian League titles as a player under Capello during their time together from 1991 to 1993 and Rijkaard has taken the lessons learnt from the Madrid boss, whose style has always brought success, to combine the Italian's defensive security with Dutch attacking flair and bring success to Barca with two league titles and last year's Champions League win.

New faces: Fabio Cannavaro and his ex-Juve teammates Gianluca Zambrotta and Lillian Thuram all make their derby debuts after leaving the disgraced Italian team in the summer, as do José Antonio Reyes, Emerson and Mahamadou Diarra for Madrid, whilst Eidur Gudjohnson gets his chance to taste the special atmosphere of a Madrid Barca classic.