Real Madrid have the chance to beat Barcelona again after they cruised into the Spanish cup final with a 3-1 win on Tuesday over their historic rivals in front of a stunned Camp Nou, their clearest win there since 1963.
.
Barca this time travel to Madrid for a fascinating league Clasico in which they will be desperate to gain revenge and dispel all the Madrid media talk about a change in the Spanish balance of power.
.
Real are practically out of the league title race, 16 points behind record-breaking Barca in third place. However they will not hold back despite Tuesday's Champions League showdown at Manchester United.
.
Angel di Maria and Sergio Ramos are suspended, but otherwise coach Jose Mourinho will field his best eleven.
.
Mourinho originally wanted El Clasico played on Friday, in order to have more preparation time for Manchester. When the television operator rejected this, he insisted on the unpopular kick-off time of 4 pm (1500 GMT) exactly the same time United take on Norwich City at Old Trafford.
.
Defender Alvaro Arbeloa said the whites would be totally focused on Barcelona rather than on United.
.
"We will start to think about Manchester onSunday," he said. "Until then, our minds are on Barcelona, and how to get another good result against them."
.
Midfielder Andres Iniesta - as dull and uninspired as his teammates on Tuesday - said Wednesday: "We are annoyed at what happened yesterday, but now we must focus on the next battle against them...Our style and mentality are not going to change."