Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, 2016 El Clásico: Live coverage and score updates

It always has to be Lionel Messi.

He has found the back of the net to change the results of games against Valencia, Sevilla, and Real Sociedad in the last six weeks. Sometimes it’s Luis Suarez who wins these types of hard-fought games, other times it’s Neymar. Once in a while Ivan Rakitic rises to the occasion to head in the winner, but it always feels like it has to be Messi.

This should quiet people who say Ronaldo doesn’t show up in big games for quite a while.

And here’s a photo from Sid Lowe.

A perfect tribute to one of the greatest of all time.

Will Barcelona throttle the match again, dominating Real Madrid in every phase of the game? Or will Zinedine Zidane step up in his first Clasico as a manager and lead Real Madrid to another performance like the ones that have seen them win by five or six goals a few times already in his short tenure? No matter what happens, it’s going to be a must-watch match -- one that could ultimately have an impact on the La Liga title race if Madrid can pull off the upset.

If you want to watch El Clasico online, you’ll have plenty of ways to watch it. In the United States, it will be carried on beIN Sports Connect, as well as on the fuboTV and Sling subscription services. It is not being streamed in Spain, but in England it will be on Sky Go, and for listings elsewhere in the world you can check out LiveSoccerTV for all of your options.

As good as Barcelona are, when you’ve got Cristiano Ronaldo in your ranks, you’ve always got a chance. Real Madrid will be reliant on their star attacker delivering an outstanding performance on the counter-attack if they’re to win this game, and they’ve got reason to believe: Ronaldo currently sits two points clear of Barça striker Luis Suárez at the top of the La Liga scoring charts, and you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be desperate to hold onto that individual honor.

Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 win over Rafael Benítez’s Real Madrid in the only previous edition of El Clásico this season. It was the Catalan club’s second consecutive derby victory, ending a run of two straight Real Madrid wins in this most prestigious of fixtures. However, not since April 2012 have Real Madrid won away at Camp Nou in the league, and they’d do well to repeat the feat on Saturday.

Lopez goes on to show how the origins of both clubs and their roles in the history of Spain’s last century aren’t what you probably think they are thanks to their portrayal in the media, particularly in and around the Spanish Civil War. It’s a fascinating piece and worth taking some time to dig into before El Clasico is played on Saturday.

Real Madrid will be without Raphael Varane in El Clasico, and Toni Kroos was hurt in training, as well, and is in doubt. (MARCA)