Barcelona and Real Madrid will resume their rivalry at Camp Nou tomorrow, with Jose Mourinho returning to club football’s biggest showdown for the first time in more than 13 years.

Barcelona sit top of La Liga after nine victories and 27 points, holding a five-point advantage over second-place Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid are third on 21 points. A win for the hosts would open a nine-point gap, an early-season deficit Mourinho’s team could scarcely afford.

Hansi Flick’s Barcelona go into the match following their first loss of the campaign, a 4-2 Champions League defeat to European champions Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday. The encounter was an absorbing contest involving two high-quality sides, but it brought their flawless record across all competitions to an end. Their league form, however, remains impressive after last weekend’s 5-2 success away to Real Betis in Seville.

The Catalan side have prevailed in six of their previous seven matches against Madrid in every competition, including a 2-0 win in this fixture last season. Barcelona have not been beaten at home by their old rivals since October 2023. Flick has claimed six wins from seven Clasicos over the past two years, with his sides scoring 22 goals and conceding 11.

Madrid arrive on the back of four successive victories in all competitions, having overcome Villarreal, Roma, Sevilla and RB Leipzig, the latter by a 4-1 scoreline, since a costly defeat to Atletico ahead of the international break. Club president Florentino Perez appointed the Portuguese coach to end a two-year wait for silverware and bring control to a squad deemed too volatile for Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.

At his presentation in August, Mourinho said he was “not one for regrets”. However, the Clasico remains the fixture in which he has perhaps the strongest unfinished history. During three eventful seasons between 2010 and 2013, he met Barcelona 17 times, recording five wins, six draws and six losses. His first Clasico ended in a 5-0 defeat at Camp Nou in November 2010, Madrid’s heaviest loss in the fixture for 15 years. Mourinho described that result as “historically bad”, and he will be determined to avoid a repeat.

He eventually found a way to overcome Barcelona. Mourinho guided Madrid to the 2011 Copa del Rey final triumph, delivered the 2011-12 La Liga crown and finished unbeaten across his final five Clasicos. His most recent match in the rivalry remains the 2-1 home victory in March 2013.

There are clear echoes of 2010. Madrid had also gone without trophies at that point, while Mourinho was charged with finding a tactical answer to a settled and self-assured Barcelona team. Flick, though, presents a markedly different challenge from Pep Guardiola.

Madrid have four fixtures left before the next international break: league meetings with Barcelona, Racing de Santander and Valencia, as well as a European away game against AEK Athens. Dropping nine points behind would leave them with almost no margin for mistakes in a title battle still in its early stages.

Mourinho’s Madrid remain a work in progress, while Flick’s Barcelona are scoring freely. Regardless of the outcome, the atmosphere is unlikely to reach the fevered levels of their meetings 13 years ago.