El clasico on Wednesday night takes place at Barcelona's Camp Nou against the backdrop of high political tension in Spain.
Police were taking no chances with thousands of protesters expected to take to the area around the ground in support of Catalan independence.
Originally slated for October 26, Spain's most anticipated match was postponed due to civil unrest which included the jailing of nine Catalan separatist leaders.
Such was the friction, the Barcelona and Real Madrid coaches were escorted to the ground together to minimise the risk – having stayed at the same hotel on Tuesday night.
Real coach, Zinedine Zidane, however, says he was not overly concerned. "I am not worried about anything," Zidane said in a press conference.
"I am happy we are about to play a clasico. It was the same when I was a player; these are the matches you live for, and you are focused only on what happens on the field."
A large-scale security operation will be deployed around the match involving 3,000 personnel.
Authorities have promised the game will go ahead and Democratic Tsunami, which says 25,000 people will attend the protest, say they do not want to disrupt the match and only wish to call for dialogue between the Spanish and Catalan authorities.
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