The Spanish government’s top sports official has sent out a message of calm and said there is no reason for Saturday’s La Liga ‘Clasico’ between Real Madrid and Barcelona to be postponed following Friday’s attacks in Paris.

Miguel Cardenal, the head of Spain’s sports council (CSD), said officials would meet today to discuss security at the match at Real’s Bernabeu stadium and steps would be taken to allow fans to attend the match “with a guarantee of normality”.

Europe is on high alert following the deadly bombings and shootings in the French capital and a friendly match between the Spanish national team and Belgium, due to take place in Brussels last night, was postponed.

The ‘Clasico’ is one of the highest-profile games in world soccer, with around 80,000 fans set to pack the Bernabeu and hundreds of millions more around the world watching some of the game’s biggest names like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

“We are the first ones interested in making sure nothing untoward occurs,” Cardenal said.

“So if anything happens that requires the public to be given certain instructions like suspending a match that will be done,” he added.

“The correct message is one of calm. The advice is the same as last week, to act normally and in absolute freedom.”

Spanish champions Barcelona top the La Liga standings after 11 matches, three points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid.

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