| PROBABLE LINEUPS |
|
REAL MADRID
Casillas Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrao Khedira, Alonso Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo Benzema |
BARCELONA
Valdes Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta Pedro, Messi, Sanchez |
Real Madrid have no injury concerns for Wednesday's Supercopa second leg against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Centre-back Pepe has recovered from concussion and is expected to replace Raul Albiol in defence, while Fabio Coentrao, Sami Khedira, Jose Callejon and Karim Benzema are all vying for starting berths.
Playmaker Luka Modric, who finally completed his protracted transfer from Tottenham on Monday, could start on the bench as Real look to rescue a 3-2 deficit from last week's first leg encounter.
Barcelona could be without captain Carles Puyol after the defender fractured his cheekbone in Sunday's 2-1 victory at Osasuna, but remains in regular training.
Xavi and Pedro are both likely to be recalled into the starting XI, while summer signing Alex Song, who was an unused substitute at the weekend, could make his debut.
| DID YOU KNOW? |
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Real Madrid have failed to win their last three matches in all competitions, which is their longest win-less streak since May 2011.
- Defeat at Getafe condemned Los Blancos to their worst start to a season since 1973.
- The Castilian giants have failed to register a home win against Barcelona in their last seven attempts across all competitions.
- Madrid's last victory over their arch-rivals at the Bernabeu was a 4-1 success in La Liga in May 2008.
- Barcelona are facing Real Madrid for the 221st time in official competitions. Both clubs have 87 wins to their name.
- If the Catalan side win on Wednesday, they will be leading the head-to-head series for the first time in 80 years.
- Lionel Messi (pictured, right) has registered five times in his last three games for Barca, making this his best ever start to a season.
- The Argentine forward is the last player to score a hat-trick in a Clasico, which he did in the 3-3 draw at Camp Nou in March 2007.
