Official: El Clásico, Real Madrid vs Barcelona in Las Vegas on 23 July
Real Madrid will take part in the Soccer Champions Tour, with three games in the US: Barcelona (Las Vegas), Club América (San Francisco) and Juventus (Los Angeles).
It’s now official - the 2022-23 season will get underway with a Clásico in Las Vegas - albeit a friendly. Real Madrid confirmed that they will be taking part in the Soccer Champions Tour during the pre-season - a tournament which will involve a mini-tour of the US with three games lined up in three different cities. The first game of the tour, and the most anticipated, will be the Clásico, which will take place on Saturday 23 July at Allegiant Stadium - home to the Las Vegas Raiders with a capacity for 65,000 spectators.
Previous Clásicos outside of Spain
It will be just the third meeting between Real Madrid and Barcelona to be held outside of Spain. The first took place in May 1982 in Venezuela as part of the Copa Presidente de la República. Real Madrid won by the minimum, thanks to a first-half goal from Vicente del Bosque. Madrid ended the tournament in third place with Inter Milan beating Porto on penalties to lift the trophy. It was an improvised match for third place, organized quickly after both Spanish clubs had been eliminated in the previous round and played in front of an almost empty Estadio Farid Richa with around 700 spectators in the stands.
The second and most recent meeting was in 2017, in Miami. Barcelona edged that game - dubbed the Clásico Miami, part of the International Champions Cup, 2-3. Messi, Rakitic, Kovacic and Asensio were on target at Hard Rock stadium with Gerard Piqué grabbing the winner.
Real Madrid’s US schedule
Carlo Ancelotti’s team will be action against three days later, meeting Mexican outfit Club América at Oracle Park, San Francisco on Tuesday 26 July. The US mini-tour comes to an end on 30 July when the European champions take on Juventus at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles on Saturday 30 July. Three games which will be a useful warm-up for Madrid who play their first official game of the new season 11 days later - contesting the European Super Cup with Eintracht Frankfurt in Helsinki on 10 August.
Barcelona’s US schedule
Barcelona also added an extra date to their summer itinerary on Friday. They will face Juventus at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on 26 July, three days after El Clásico.
Barça’s other confirmed US pre-season games include friendlies against Inter Miami at DRV PNK stadium in Miami on 19 July and New York Red Bulls on 30 July at the Red Bull Arena, New Jersey.