Real Madrid head to Las Vegas looking for clasico revenge against Barcelona

Football’s most celebrated club fixture comes to Las Vegas this weekend, and although it is a pre-season game, all clasicos carry competitive bite.

There’s a fresh aspect to the eternal grudge between Barcelona and Real Madrid, too, dating from their surreal last meeting. Back in March, at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid wore all black, had Luka Modric playing at centre-forward, and, most surprisingly, lost to Barca by a thumping 4-0 scoreline.

It made no difference to the destiny of the Liga title, won at canter by a Real Madrid who had at that stage embarked on an extraordinary set of adventures, comeback after comeback, in the knockouts of European Cup, a trophy they collected for the 14th time in the club’s history after beating Liverpool in Paris.

Since then, a calm, ordered close-season has been under way. Madrid failed in their bid to land their No 1 target in the market, Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, but continue to build their collection of talented French players, with Aurelien Tchouameni their big-money new signing. The 22-year-old is earmarked for a midfield place long into the future, alongside last summer’s French capture, Eduardo Camavinga.

Antonio Rudiger, out of contract at Chelsea, has arrived to reinforce a defence that, in achieving the double last season, missed the departed Sergio Ramos and Rafa Varane, two long-term pillars of the side, less than expected.

Rudiger, though, has been reminded since linking up within his new teammates that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, his former Chelsea colleague, was the principal and outstanding protector of Madrid at the back in 2021/22.

If Madrid are to recapture their domestic and European prizes in the coming campaign, they will likely need Courtois to