PREVIEW: It's all about El Clasico as Barcelona, Real Madrid lock horns in LaLiga

The first El Clasico of 2022/23 will see Real Madrid host FC Barcelona for a crucial LaLiga Santander duel on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu.

With the two fierce rivals tied for points at the top of the table heading into the game, it will be such an important game in this season’s title race. 

But that’s not the only blockbuster fixture of this weekend, third-placed Athletic Club takes on fourth-placed Atlético de Madrid on Saturday night.

There are other fascinating match-ups all weekend, starting with the first game of Matchday 9 - a Madrid derby as Getafe CF makes a short trip across Madrid to visit Rayo Vallecano.

It was in this particular fixture that Radamel Falcao scored his first Rayo Vallecano goal last season and the Colombian and his teammates will set out to make it three home wins in a row this Friday night.

There are four fixtures on Saturday, the first of which sees Cádiz CF make the 1,000km trip across the country to visit Girona FC at the Estadi Montilivi for these clubs’ first-ever meeting at LaLiga Santander level.

Another derby takes centre stage, this time in the Valencian Community as Valencia CF welcomes Elche CF to the Mestalla.

Under caretaker coach Alberto Gallego, Los Franjiverdes ended their run of five defeats in a row last match day, but they’re still waiting for their first victory of the season and will hope to secure it at the home of their neighbours.

Los Che and their Italian tactician, Gennaro Gattuso, are on a mini-unbeaten streak at the moment after two wins and a draw in the last three matches. The home side will look to extend that run and move up the table.

New Sevilla FC coach Jorge Sampaoli takes his squad to the Balearic Islands to challenge RCD Mallorca and will be keen to continue the team’s recovery after they displayed green shoots in the Argentine’s first two matches in charge.

They drew 1-1 away at Borussia Dortmund in midweek, after also drawing 1-1 against high-flying Athletic Club last LaLiga Santander matchday.

Athletic Club remain in third place after last weekend’s draw and now they face a huge test on Saturday at 9 pm CEST when Atlético de Madrid makes the trip to Bilbao.

It’s always an intense and physical battle when these two sides face off and it’s a rivalry that the Basque side has had the upper hand in recent times.

Athletic Club won this fixture 2-0 last season, while they also defeated Atleti 2-1 in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals, in addition to drawing 0-0 in Madrid.

With the Williams brothers, Inaki and Nico, still in such excellent form, the home fans at San Mamés will be confident.

Sunday is El Clasico day and there also is a very interesting game between RC Celta and Umar Sadiq's Real Sociedad as the undercard.

These are two teams who have been playing well and play an ambitious brand of football, while this will also be in-form Brais Méndez’s first game against RC Celta since his summer transfer away from the Galicians.

He comes into it in excellent form, having scored in each of the past four LaLiga Santander matchdays.

Then, the world will be watching as Real Madrid meets FC Barcelona in the first competitive El Clasico of the season.

Every match between these sides is important but this one is even more and special because they come into this matchday tied on points at the top of the table.

That scenario has only happened seven previous times in the 93-year history of LaLiga Santander.

It will therefore be a very significant El Clasico for the title race, while Los Blancos will also want some revenge after being thrashed 4-0 in the previous meeting, also held at the Bernabéu.

So many of the best players in the world will be on display in this huge game, including Karim Benzema and Robert Lewandowski as they meet in league play for the first time.

Following the thrilling 90 minutes at the Bernabéu, there are two more matches on Sunday evening as RCD Espanyol face Real Valladolid and Real Betis take on UD Almería.

The first is a clash between two sides hovering just above the relegation zone, so those three points will be so valuable while Los Verdiblancos vs Los Rojiblancos is the third regional rivalry of the weekend, this time in Andalusia.

Villarreal CF vs CA Osasuna then concludes Matchday 9 on Monday night and the former Europa League champions go into this contest one point behind CA Osasuna in the table. With Villarreal CF expecting to once again qualify for European football this season, they’ll need to turn in an impressive display in this final match of the round.