Barcelona v Real Madrid: Team news and latest updates as La Liga rivals clash in first Clasico of season

Refereeing controversies, conspiracies, ‘50,000-page dossiers’ and the return of Jose Mourinho add a sharp edge to the star-studded first Clasico of the season, writes Jamie Braidwood:

Barcelona XI: Joan García; João Cancelo, Pau Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, Xavi Espart; Rodri, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Gordon; Raphinha.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Livakovic, Balde, Fariñas, Gavi, De Jong, Bernal, Adeyemi, Abdelkarim, Campos, Goren.

The big news for Real is keeper Thibaut Courtois is out, with the club saying: “Courtois is a last-minute withdrawal due to a bout of the flu”. Andriy Lunin is on in his place.

Real Madrid XI: Lunin; Valverde, Konaté, Huijsen, Cucurella; Bernardo Silva, Tchouaméni; Arda Güler, Bellingham, Diomande; Mbappé.

Substitutes: Mestre, Illia, Militão, Camavinga, Endrick, Alexander-Arnold, Carreras, Espí, Brahim Díaz, Rüdiger, Dumfries, Thiago.

Viewers in the UK can watch the game on Premier Sports 1.

Barcelona XI: Joan Garcia, Espart, Martin, Pau Cubarsi, Cancelo, Pedri, Rodri, Adeyemi, Lopez, Yamal, Gabriel Jesus

Real Madrid XI: Courtois, Cucurella, Huijsen, Konate, Valverde, Tchouameni, Guler, Diomande, Bellingham, Endrick, Mbappe

Barcelona’s Dani Olmo picked up an injury in the defeat to PSG and joins Eric Garcia and Jules Kounde on the sidelines.

Real Madrid will be without the suspended Vinicius Jr after he was sent off against Villareal and handed a four-game ban for violent conduct following a hair-pull on Nathan Saliba. The visitors will also be missing injured defender Raul Asencio.

Barcelona host Real Madrid at Camp Nou on Sunday 25 October, with kick-off at 8pm GMT.

Hansi Flick’s side have the upper hand in the top flight so far, with a perfect run of nine wins from nine, while Jose Mourinho’s visitors sit third, six points off top spot having won seven and lost two.

Barca ran out 5-2 winners in an entertaining clash with 10-man Real Betis last time out, with Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Dani Olmo all on the scoresheet, while Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Real beat Sevilla 4-1.

Whatever happens it is likely to be a dramatic, all-out-attacking game: Barcelona lost 4-2 to holders PSG in a Champions League thriller on Tuesday while Madrid put four past RB Leipzig, who scored a late consolation goal, on Wednesday night.

Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Barcelona v Real Madrid.

It’s the first Clasico of this season and as ever there is plenty of drama around it, after an escalating war of words in the build-up…

We’ll have all the latest updates here.