Real Madrid have had an up and down league season but one thing has been consistant. Real Madrid do not lose at the Bernabeu with twelve games played Madrid have won ten and drawn two. With Jose Mourhino proving to be the master tactician yet again on Wednesday night when he set his team up to hit Barcelona on the counter attack and which worked exceptionally well. With Mezut Ozil, Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo simply proving way too good for Barcelona's rearguard it was another tactical victory for Mourhino over his archrivals. Its now seven games since Barcelona beat Madrid in a game that mattered and with the Bernabeu sure to be rocking on Saturday it will be interesting to see what team Mourhino picks, remembering that Madrid have a huge Champions League game on Tuesday night.

Barcelona come into this game on the back of a pretty poor performance against Real. Barcelona look tired and at the moment look lethargic,in the games against Milan and Madrid Barcelona looked devoid of ideas. Messi gave away the ball far too often, Xavi was anonymous and Iniesta and Fabregas seemed to receive alot of the ball without doing much with it. At the back Pique and Puyol looked completely incapable of dealing with the fast breaking Milan and Madrid offences and Dani Alves and Jordi Alba spent far too much time chasing their respective wingers, their position is all off and they are far too fond of chargining forward without taking care of their defensive duties.

I find it hard to understand why Barcelona are favoured here but I wont look a gifthorse in the mouth. I'm taking Madrid outright here , keep an eye on the teamsheets though. If Mourhino rests Ronaldo I will give the game a miss and just enjoy the tactical battle. But if Ronaldo starts I'll be all in on Madrid, Barca just cant handle him and with Madrid's great home form and Barca out of sorts this almost looks too good to be true. Follow me on twitter@antonpippo