Barcelona fell to Real Madrid in all three Clasicos last season, including a 4-1 defeat in the Supercup, as the Merengues ran away with the league title after Barca were the ones to dominate them in the 2022/23 season.
Coming out of the October international fixtures, Barcelona will actually be first in LaLiga, even though Real Madrid were the more hyped team coming into the 2024/25 season after winning LaLiga and the Champions League, in addition to signing attackers Kylian Mbappe and Endrick.
Barcelona, however, have boasted Europe’s most electrifying attack under new manager Hansi Flick, who has Robert Lewandowski scoring goals like he’s at Bayern Munich while Raphinha and Lamine Yamal have both been world-class, too.
The final piece of the puzzle for Barcelona has been attacking midfielder Dani Olmo, who has only played three matches due to injury but scored in each game, already looking like he will live up to the much-criticized 55 million euro price tag.
Olmo does have an injury concern, though, and he has been out since the 4-1 win over local rivals Girona on Sept. 15 with a muscular issue. The Spanish international is nearing a return with El Clasico and another massive match against Bayern Munich in the Champions League coming up.
According to a report from Mundo Deportivo, although the battle against Bayern is important, Barcelona are not planning on starting Olmo against either Bayern in the Champions League or Sevilla in LaLiga.
Their goal is to use those two matches as tune-up games for El Clasico on Oct. 26 at the Santiago Bernabeu, knowing that this first Clasico is as pivotal as any game this season and could set the tone for the rest of the title race.
Barcelona want to extend their lead over Real Madrid, and they know that Olmo can be their X-Factor in doing so. The highly intelligent attacking midfielder from RB Leipzig has game-changing technical ability and has shown that he can score from any place at any time.
A fully healthy Olmo can swing the game as much as any player in El Clasico. Last season, we saw how new Bundesliga addition Jude Bellingham won this rivalry matchup for Real Madrid, and Barca are ready for their guy to deliver the goods in 2024/25, too.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.