The first Clasico of the season is coming up and will take place on Saturday afternoon, with Barcelona hosting Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. It is a special fixture and several former Barcelona and Real Madrid players who have experience of it have had their say on this weekend's duel.
Former Barcelona stars Patrick Kluivert and Samuel Eto'o offered their views alongside former Real Madrid men Fernando Redondo, Guti and Fernando Hierro at a LaLiga event.
"It's being played very early his season and there are many smaller teams that can beat the bigger teams this season, so I don't think it'll decide the whole season," Kluivert said. "But, El Clasico is El Clasico and all players want to win this match."
Former Real Madrid man Guti echoed that sentiment. "I agree with Kluivert, I don't think this will be decisive for the whole LaLiga season," he said. "But, it is an important match. Mentally, if a player has a good match and a team wins then it can be good for the rest of their season."
In terms of picking favourites, Redondo pointed out that the form book tends to go out the window for such fixtures. "It's hard to speak of favourites in such a match," the Argentine said. "The recent form of each team doesn't matter much in such a match in terms of analysis. Clasicos can always surprise you."
The lack of fans
Eto'o spoke about the lack of fans during his appearance, as this Clasico will be behind closed doors at the Camp Nou. "That'll be strange in such a nice stadium, but this match is unique and I hope the players give us the kind of spectacle that we always want to see," he said.
Hierro was another to speak about the closed doors element of the match. "It'll be the first Clasico without fans and we don't know how the players will react to that," the former Real Madrid captain said. "Surely it's better for the visiting team, while I'm sure it's also better for the referee. But, it is a shame that a match like El Clasico won't have fans."