Real Madrid host Barcelona in the second La Liga Clásico of the season, with Zinedine Zidane's side looking to move six points clear of their bitter rivals while retaining a game in hand over Luis Enrique's men. Here are the details as to where to watch El Clasico, coverage time and kick-off time.
Barcelona enter the must-win contest on the back of having failed to score in two of their three previous games, albeit versus Juventus on either side of a 3-2 win over Real Sociedad last weekend.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, have scored nine in their last three, although two of their goals versus Bayern on Wednesday were awarded despite Cristiano Ronaldo twice being offside.
Where to watch El Clasico
Sky Sports still have exclusive rights to La Liga in Ireland and Britain. The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports HD1 and Sky Sports 1.
What time is kick-off in El Clasico?
Kick-off is at 7:45pm Irish/UK time.
What time does El Clasico coverage begin?
Coverage begins at 7pm on Sky Sports 1.
Why was the last El Clasico not on tv?
Broadcasting regulations in the UK dictate that no live football can be shown between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on Saturdays, so as not to detrimentally affect attendances at 3pm kick-offs in England.
The Spanish FA opted for a 3:15pm kick-off (UK and Irish time) for their first marquee fixture of the new season back on December 4th, explaining that this time garners twice the revenue as others. The 3:15pm kick-off made the Camp Nou game watchable in America (where La Liga has just opened up a development office), South America, China, and most of Asia. Naturally, these regions significantly outweigh the UK market from a La Liga perspective.
In 2014, Irish and British viewers missed 15 minutes of El Clásico for the same reason, just three years after the European Court of Justice concluded that these "closed periods" do not encourage fans to attend other games whatsoever.
Julian Kokott, attorney general of the ECJ wrote at the time:
It has not been adequately shown to the Court that the closed periods actually encourage attendance at and participation in matches.
In terms of why Irish fans suffer due to an outdated British rule - Irish channels are perfectly entitled to bid for rights, but Sky simply pay too much money for the likes of former La Liga broadcaster TG4 to compete, even in a one-off scenario. This news will doubtless arrive as a great shame to those who remember TG4's Spanish football coverage in the '90s...
"CÚL DO BARCELONA! CÚL IONTACH LE SONNY ANDERSON!!!"
