How Real Madrid could line up against Barcelona

Real Madrid travel to Camp Nou on Wednesday night looking to record their first league victory over bitter rivals Barcelona since April 2016.

Zinedine Zidane's side currently sit level on points with Barcelona heading into the first Clasico of the season, only being kept off top spot due to their marginally worse goal difference.

Madrid have only been beaten once in the league all season, though, and will be hopeful of an increasingly rare Clasico triumph in the final meeting between these two sides in a decade which Barca have dominated.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how Los Blancos could line up for the contest.

Out: Eden Hazard (foot), James Rodriguez (knee), Marco Asensio (knee), Lucas Vazquez (toe) Doubtful: Marcelo (calf)

> Click here for Real Madrid's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match

Big-money summer signing Eden Hazard will have to wait for his first taste of El Clasico as he continues to struggle with a small fracture in his ankle which is likely to keep him out until the New Year.

The Belgian is one of a number of key players unavailable to Zidane for this match, with James Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez and long-term absentee Marco Asensio also sidelined.

Marcelo is likely to miss out with a calf problem too, although Ferland Mendy is in contention again after suspension and is expected to come back in at left-back ahead of Nacho.

Casemiro was rested at the weekend and will come back into the midfield, with Luka Modric the most likely to make way and Federico Valverde moving into a more advanced position.

There will be a lot of attention on which trio Zidane chooses to lead the line too, with young Brazilian pair Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo set to be picked ahead of out-of-favour Gareth Bale and Isco.

Karim Benzema will spearhead the attack, though, having scored 12 times in 15 league appearances this season to sit alongside Lionel Messi at the top of the La Liga scoring charts.

> Click here to see how Barcelona could line up for this contest