On Sunday, La Liga leaders Barcelona will lock horns with bitter rivals Real Madrid in the latest edition of everyone's favorite club football match, El Clasico.
With the current standings taken into consideration, only one point separating the two, the outcome of this weekend's encounter could go far as to decide who will lift this season's Spanish Primera Division title.
Many factors could play a key role in deciding the outcome. The midfield battle will prove decisive, as well as the defensive tactics of both teams. However, what stands out as the most vital battle is that of their striking force, BBC and MSN.
MSN take on the BBC | Who will make the headlines in the 'Clásico'? pic.twitter.com/qoUauHeS1N
— RMadridista (@01RMadridista) March 19, 2015
BBC, consisting of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo, are into their second season of tormenting defenders and scoring as a pastime. MSN, on the other hand, featuring Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar, are in their debut season, but are in no matter inferior to their Real Madrid counterpart.
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Ahead of Sunday's Camp Nou encounter, we take a look at the two attacking force's stats and predict who will come out on top and gain bragging rights after the final whistle.
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Out of Real Madrid's 77 goals and 62 assists, BBC have scored 55 times in La Liga, and have set up 24 goals. Barcelona, however, have managed 78 goals and 53 assists, 56 goals and 27 assists coming courtesy of MSN.
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This means MSN have scored 71.8% of the Blaugrana's goals this term, compared to BBC's tally of 71.4%.
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The Catalan giants have had a total of 443 shots this season, with 240 of them coming from MSN. This means 54% of Barcelona's shot are down to their star-studded attacking three.
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For BBC, however, it rises to approximately 61%, with 295 out of the 486 shots coming from the Blancos' attacking trio.
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Out of BBC's 55 goals in La Liga, 30 have come courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo, 13 via Karim Benzema, and 12 from world-record signing Gareth Bale.
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Messi leads the top scorer chart with 32 strikes out of MSN's 78 goals. Neymar has 17 to his name, and Luis Suarez seven.
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Bale averages 3.6 shots per Liga BBVA match. Only Ronaldo (6.2) and Messi (4.8) boast better stats.
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The Welshman, however, has scored only twice against the top 6 teams in Spain, with both coming vs Sevilla.
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His last goal in Liga BBVA came vs Levante, a match which saw the 25-year-old net a brace. This ended an 828-minute goal drought.
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Ronaldo has scored twice in the last two editions of El Clasico. The Portuguese will be looking to make it 3 in 3, on Sunday.
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Ronaldo and Bale have formed a formidable partnership away from home, scoring the most number of goals (22) on the road in La Liga.
Ronaldo and Bale have socred the highest number of goals away from home in La-Liga : 22 goals in 14 fixtures! pic.twitter.com/7ozJBjFwbZ
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@RonaIdoStats) March 19, 2015
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Benzema has made a habit of scoring vs Barcelona. The team that he has scored the most number of goals against is Luis Enrique's side (6).
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Messi has scored 14 goals in his last 17 Clasico appearances.
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La Pulga last scored a hat-trick vs Real Madrid at Camp Nou in 2007. His last hat-trick vs Los Blancos in El Clasico was in 2014.
2 DAYS UNTIL #ELCLASICO ― Messi has scored 2 hat-tricks against Real Madrid: one at the Camp Nou (2007) and one at the Bernabeu (2014)
— MESSISTATS (@MessiStats) March 20, 2015
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The Argentine has only won three in eight of his last home clashes with Les Merengues, drawing three times and losing twice.
3 DAYS UNTIL #ELCLASICO ― Messi has won only 3 of his last 8 official home games against Real Madrid (D3 L2)
— MESSISTATS (@MessiStats) March 19, 2015
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Suarez has a mere seven goals to his name in La Liga. However, the Uruguayan has been in sizzling form lately, boasting an average of a goal-per-game ratio in his last seven games in all competitions.
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Compared to his first 15 matches for the Catalan giants, Suarez's minutes per goal have improved from 303 to 70.4, and his conversion rate increasing from 9.5% to 33.3%.
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The 27-year-old has racked up three shots per game in his last seven games, compared to his 2.8 in his first 15 matches. His assists per game stat have decreased from 0.6 to 0.1, though.
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Neymar has scored 17 goals this term so far, compared to nine in last season, and is only behind Messi (32) and Ronaldo (30) in the goalscoring charts.
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Last time Real Madrid came to Camp Nou, Neymar netted past Casillas, scoring in his El Clasico debut. The match ended 2-1 in favor of the Blaugrana.
Although none can bet against BBC shining, the numbers point in favor of MSN. Given their home advantage, expect the Barcelona attacking trio to be on par in Sunday's tie.
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