Real Madrid and Barcelona will play each other on Sunday afternoon in the biggest La Liga game of the year.

The winner of this Spanish Premier League game will take over first place in the standings. Even though the UEFA Champions League is going on, it feels as if the entire soccer world has stopped to watch this incredibly magnetic competition. Real Madrid leads this all-time El Clasico rivalry in La Liga games, 71-66.

Latin Post breaks down the two clubs and predict which team will come out on top:

Real Madrid

Real Madrid is in second place in the standings with a 21-1-5 record, giving them 64 points.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti had this team in first place from Week 10 all the way to Week 25. Unfortunately for him, injuries and a recent slump have resulted in just three wins in their last six games. Real Madrid picked up a much-needed win last week against Levante, but they've only scored three goals in their last three games. The loss of Colombian superstar James Rodriguez has been devastating as Real Madrid is just 3-1-2 without him.

However, it's not panic time just yet. It never is when you have the two-time reigning Ballon d'Or award winner in Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has a team-leading 30 goals this season as well as 11 assists. Gareth Bale has been under much scrutiny because of his questionable defense, and he knows it's time to show up.

Getting past the Barcelona defense will be quite a task, but luckily, Real Madrid has a superstar goalkeeper in Iker Casillas. Casillas allowed just one goal the last time these two teams met in Week 9 when Real Madrid was victorious in the 3-1 win.

Karim Benzema will be the huge X factor in this game for Real Madrid. With so much attention being paid to Ronaldo, Benzema will have to make plays when given the opportunity. In their Week 9 meeting against Barcelona, Benzema scored the clinching goal in the 61st minute.

Barcelona

Barcelona is in first place in the standings with a 21-2-4 record, giving them 65 points.

Real Madrid may have won the Week 9 matchup, but this is a whole different ball game for a number of reasons. This game will be played in Barcelona, whereas the previous game was played at Madrid. Barcelona is 11-0-2 this season when playing at the Camp Nou.

Aside from location and the loss of Rodriguez, Barcelona is on fire. They've won nine of their last 10 games to take over first place, and Messi has taken over sole possession of the first place lead in both goals and assists in the process. Messi has been on an absolute tear over the last nine weeks scoring three hat tricks during this winning streak.

In adding to Messi's dominance, Neymar has been the best teammate that one could ask for. The Brazilian striker now has 17 goals, and you could very well argue he has the best dribbling skills in the league. Combined with Messi and Neymar, Luis Suarez completes Barcelona's big three to go up against Real Madrid.

Ike Casillas has been fantastic this season, but Claudio Bravo has been even better. The Chilean goalkeeper hasn't missed a single minute of action this year for Barcelona allowing just 16 goals in his 27 starts this season.

Schedule, Where to Watch

Real Madrid and Barcelona will play each other on Sunday at 4 p.m. EST at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain. The game will be shown on beIN Sports. You can view a live game stream here.

Predictions

Barcelona should win this game, and they will. Messi is on a scoring rampage right now, and Bravo is paying like a brick wall in front of the net. Not having Rodriguez won't help Real Madrid either. Home field advantage will be the ultimate deciding factor here as Barcelona extends their first place victory.

Barcelona wins 3-1

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