The Spanish Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be played on Saturday 10 December, it was announced late on Monday.
Real had wanted the game to be played at noon on Sunday 11 December in order to be broadcast live to the lucrative Asian market. However, Barcelona had insisted on Saturday in order to have suffiicient time to prepare for the Club World Cup in Japan.
Indeed, Barça will fly out to Japan early on the morning of December 11, from Madrid.
Barça have not lost to Real in La Liga since Pep Guardiola took over as coach at the Catalan giants in 2008, though the whites managed to beat them in last season’s King’s Cup final.
Real are currently three points ahead of Barça at the top of the league, with three games to go before El Clasico.