Barcelona and Real Madrid will clash for the first time this season in La Liga 2020-21. The latest edition of El Clasico will be played on October 24, 2020 (Saturday) at the Nou Camp. Both teams have been inconsistent at the start of the new season but would be hoping to get the better of their arch-rivals when they face each other. Los Blancos have played one game more than the ninth-place Blaugranas and are currently third in the table. Lionel Messi Becomes First Player to Score in 16 Consecutive Champions League Seasons as he Inspires Barcelona to 5-1 Win Against Ferencvanros.

The attention will once again be on Lionel Messi, ahead of the biggest footballing spectacle in Spain, especially after the transfer saga surrounding him in the summer. The Argentine decided to stay at the Catalan club for at least another year after being poised to leave for reportedly Manchester City, due to the lack of sporting project at the Blaugranas.

The absence of Lionel Messi would have been a big blow for the fixture as he holds several individual records. The Argentine is the highest ever goal-scorer and assist provider in El Clasico along with being only one of five players to score two hat tricks. The Barcelona skipper is also second on the appearance list behind Sergio Ramos. So ahead of El Clasico 2020, we take a look at the stats of Lionel Messi in this fixture.

Appearance’s 43
Goals 26
Assists 14
Hat-Tricks 2
Wins 19

Both the sides have met each other a total of 277 times in history with Barcelona winning 115 matches compared to Real Madrid’s 100 wins. The teams have faced 180 times in La Liga with the record champions holding the slight advantage in the head to head record with 73 wins compared to the Catalans’ 72 while 35 games have ended in a draw.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 23, 2020 04:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).