Pepe v Mario Balotelli: The pantomime villain of Spanish football will go head-to-head with Liverpool's maverick forward 

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For all the goals Real Madrid have scored in La Liga this season they have also managed to concede nine times. 

That’s nine times more than Barcelona and a higher total than five other teams in Spain’s top flight. They face Liverpool without arguably their best defender, Sergio Ramos, so leaving Anfield with a clean sheet will depend largely on what kind of night Pepe has.

The pantomime villain of Spanish football has had many ups as downs in his seven years at Madrid. He was good enough to be one of former coach Manuel Pellegrini’s favourites and the Manchester City manager wanted to sign him at the start of last season.

Real Madrid centre back Pepe has been sent off five times during his time in the Spanish capital

Portugal international Pepe will be tasked with marking Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli

Pepe faced Liverpool, including former winger Ryan Babel, in the Champions League in 2009

He was also bad enough for Jose Mourinho to relegate him to the bench during his last season at the club, as Raphael Varane emerged as the manager's first choice partner for Ramos.

Pepe responded by publicly criticising Mourinho’s treatment of Iker Casillas, and his manager issued a withering comeback. 'Pepe’s problem has a name and that name is Varane,' Mourinho said. 'It’s not easy being a 31-year-old and being overtaken by a 19-year-old kid. But that’s the law of the jungle. Pepe was undroppable, but not any more.'

Pepe had looked second best to Varane but they will play together with Ramos out injured. Even without Ramos’s exclusion, the Portugal defender would have started after becoming close to undroppable once again.

His speed of recovery helps Madrid play a higher defensive line and his concentration levels are an asset alongside the occasionally renegade Ramos. He has also put his disciplinary problems behind him. 

France international Raphael Varane will partner Pepe at the heart of Real Madrid's defence

Barcelona fans refer to Portugal and Real Madrid centre back Pepe as the 'assassin' 

Pepe saw red for kicking Barcelona full back Dani Alves during a Champions League clash in 2011

Pepe's usual centre back partner Sergio Ramos will miss Wednesday night's game due to a calf injury

Pepe received a 10-match ban for kicking Getafe's Javier Casquero in April 2009

Jose Mourinho and Pepe did not see eye to eye during the Chelsea manager's time at Real

It’s been over five years since he kicked wildly at the head of Getafe’s Javier Casquero and received a 10-match ban. Saturday’s Clasico will no doubt bring out the worst in him as he tries to cope with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, but so far this season he has responded to becoming, at 33, the senior member of Madrid's back four.

Barcelona fans still refer to him as ‘assassin’ but in many ways his reputation as a hatchet man has always been a little exaggerated. He has shocked the sensitive nature of some of La Liga’s more refined watchers but alongside the likes of Jose Camacho and Graeme Souness, who clashed in this fixture during the 1981 European Cup Final, he would be a long way down any 'hardman' pecking order.

He will have to marshal Madrid’s defence at set-pieces. It’s been their weakness all season to the point where both Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo have been deployed in the six-yard box to compensate for a lack of height.

Set-pieces aside, Wednesday's game ought to be more straightforward than the upcoming meeting with Barcelona. With Liverpool missing the two players who made them so difficult to contain last season, he is most likely to face Mario Balotelli — dubbed ‘the worst striker in Europe’s top leagues' by Marca this week.

The label was more a comment on his poor goal return than his overall play but it has not gone unnoticed that the Italian has also faced Iker Casillas twice in international action and failed to score on either occasion. If Pepe comes out on top against both the former AC Milan striker and England’s Rickie Lambert then Madrid may just need Ronaldo to break his Anfield duck at the other end to take the three points.