Within hours, football fans across the world are witnessing the "Clasico Earth" between the giants of Spanish football, Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the most prominent absentee, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, newly transferred to Juventus Italian, did not leave the occasion without comment.
According to the Spanish newspaper "AS", the Portuguese star said: "I very much respect the Barcelona team, but my former team Real Madrid in my heart."
"I hope the Clasico will end with a happy ending for Real Madrid," he added.
He is the second leading scorer in history after Real Madrid legend Alfredo Distefano.
Ronaldo scored 18 goals in the Alclassico, the second-largest number of goals for one player, after Barcelona legend Lionel Messi, who scored 25 goals.
The last goals of the "Madeira missile" during the dramatic draw 2-2 between the two teams in May.
Ronaldo and Argentinian Lionel Messi will miss the Clasico together for the first time since 2007, when the Don has moved to Juventus, while Messi has broken his arm.
The Web site has published statistics showing that Real have been able to beat Barcelona in only 26 per cent of the meetings, in which Ronaldo took part, 8 out of 30 matches.
But the Royal won 100 per cent in the Clasico when Ronaldo missed two previous encounters - the Spanish Cup final of 2014 and the 2017 Spanish Super Cup final.
Despite these statistics, which confirm the difficulty of achieving victory in the "Clasico", but Ronaldo achieved large numbers in the "Classico Earth".
Since the departure of Ronaldo, the club has failed to compensate him with a new goal, which could be a real problem at Camp Nou on Sunday.
Barcelona host Real Madrid at Camp Nou on Sunday in an "early" match at 4:15 pm local time (7:15 pm EST).
