Save the date: El Clasico time and day set for Alonso’s first Clasico as manager

Real Madrid host Barcelona in the first Clasico of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu, and a time and date has now been set. It will be Xabi Alonso’s first experience of the fixture as a manager.

It will also be his first experience going against Barcelona as a coach, having never faced them while at Bayer Leverkusen either. As a player, Alonso does have plenty of experience going up against the Blaugrana, facing them 30 times for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Bayern Munich. Over the course of those games, Alonso recorded eight wins, seven draws and 15 defeats.

Spanish broadcaster DAZN have made it official: El Clasico will take place at 16:15 CEST on the 26th of October, a Sunday.

The game is already beginning to build a list of absences. Marc-Andre ter Stegen has been ruled out for some time, but Gavi will also miss out after his meniscus operation resulted in a much longer time out than anticipated. Otherwise Hansi Flick will be hoping to have Alejandro Balde, Fermin Lopez and Lamine Yamal back for the encounter.

Meanwhile there is a chance that Trent Alexander-Arnold returns in time for El Clasico, but likelihood is that he makes the bench at best. Fellow defender Antonio Rudiger has been discarded for the game, as he is not expected back until December. Ferland Mendy is expected to be back, but his fitness remains somewhat ambiguous.

After 11 games between them, Barcelona have dropped just two points, while Real Madrid have been perfect so far. It suggests that El Clasico will take on even more importance if they continue to be so consistent. Flick did not give an opinion on whether it could require 100 points to win La Liga this season, but the German manager did admit it would be more difficult for Barcelona this season.