Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Real Primed to Pull off Upset

Real Madrid may be leading La Liga this season, but Barcelona is the favorite coming into Saturday's El Clasico clash. Part of this is because Barca has won La Liga the past three seasons. Part of this is because they have the most dominant soccer player in the world in Lionel Messi.

But if you look at what Real has done against Messi and Barca the past two contests, and there's reason for Los Blancos fans to be hopeful.

First of all, Real has held Messi to zero goals in the past two matchups. This, against a player who has 63 goals in all competitions this season and 41 goals in La Liga play. There is something to be said about that, especially given Los Blancos allowed Messi to score three goals in their first two clashes of the season.

There's also the fact that the last two matchups have been very close.  

Barca won, 2-1, on Jan. 18, and then the two sides battled to a 2-2 draw on the 25th. In the draw, Barca actually raced off to a 2-0 lead early on, but Real fought back to knot up the score. You have to recognize that Barca should have won that game, and that draw was essentially a win for Real.

Then there's Cristiano Ronaldo, who somehow has been overshadowed by Messi this season, despite being in a tie for the league lead in goals scored. Ronaldo is one of the premier players in the world, not to mention he's scored three goals in five contests against Barca this season.

Barca has the better team and the better player, but that doesn't mean Los Blancos can't pull off the upset. There is a lot to like about Real going into this matchup, especially after the last stunning display against Barca.

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