Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, popularly known as El Clasico, is football’s most fearsome rivalry. The rivalry intensified during the 1950s when the clubs disputed the signing of Argentine forward Alfredo Di Stéfano.
Di Stéfano had impressed both Barcelona and Real Madrid while playing for Los Millionarios in Bogota, Colombia, during a players’ strike in his native Argentina. Luis Figo’s transfer from Barcelona to Real Madrid in 2000 resulted in a hate campaign by some of his former club’s fans.
This rivalry became more intense during the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi era. Ronaldo (CR7), Real Madrid’s greatest player, competed with Messi, Barcelona’s greatest player, for a decade during the pinnacle of their careers (2009–2019).
But even though both players are no longer with their respective clubs, the rivalry between both clubs goes on as it has for decades. Both of the two formal superstars were even born.
The Messi–Ronaldo rivalry was characterized by a lot of goals scored by both players, in addition to many domestic and European titles that were a major reason for achieving them. In their period, they contributed to the dominance of their clubs in Europe, as they won six Champions League titles in nine seasons, including five consecutive seasons between 2014 and 2018.
In El Clásico matches, Messi has scored 26 goals in his career, which is a record. Ronaldo has scored 18, which is the joint second most in the fixture’s history alongside Di Stéfano. Ronaldo, on the other hand, has a slight advantage in terms of minutes per goal ratio, scoring a goal for every 141 minutes played in El Clásico matches.
Only slightly behind is Messi, who scores a goal every 151.54 minutes. In their period, the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona has been encapsulated by the rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi.
Following the star signings of Neymar and Luis Suárez by Barcelona, and Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema by Real Madrid, the rivalry was expanded to a battle of the clubs’ attacking trios, nicknamed “BBC” (Bale–Benzema–Cristiano) and “MSN” (Messi–Suárez–Neymar).
Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus in 2018, and in the week before the first meeting of the teams in the 2018–19 La Liga, Messi sustained an arm injury, ruling him out of the match. It would be the first time since 2007 that the Clásico had featured neither player, with some in the media describing it as the ‘end of an era’. Barcelona won the match by 5-1.
These two clubs are the greatest football clubs in the history of Spanish football, with 197 trophies between them. The two clubs also have the biggest football fanbases in the world of football. The Story of Spanish Football, says about the match: “They hate each other with an intensity that can truly shock the outside. Real Madrid has won 101 trophies, and Barcelona has also won 96 trophies. Real Madrid is the most successful club in the history of European football, with 21 titles, including 14 Uefa Champions League titles.
The two clubs have met a total of 256 times. Real Madrid leads in head-to-head results in official competitive matches with 104 wins to Barcelona’s 100 with 52 draws as of the match played on January 14, 2024.
This gives Real Madrid bragging rights with more victories over their eternal rivals. The largest victory in this fixture was 11-1 on June 19, 1943, in the Copa del Rey in favor of Real Madrid, also known as Los Blancos. On the other hand, Barcelona’s biggest victory against their eternal rivals was a 7-2 win on the 24th of September 1950.
Real Madrid holds the most consecutive wins, with seven running from April 22nd 1962, to the 28th of February, 1965. Barcelona’s most consecutive win against Los Blancos runs from the 13th of December, 2008 to the 29th of November, 2010 with a total of five games.
The player with the most appearances in this fixture is Barcelona legend and former captain Sergio Busquets Burgos, with a total of 48 appearances. The most appearances by a Real Madrid player is Sergio Ramos García, also a former captain of Los Blancos. Barcelona’s all-time top goal-scorer the legendary Lionel Messi, has the most goals in this fixture with 26 goals in 45 appearances. Behind him are Real Madrid legends Alfredo Di Stéfano and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 18 goals each.
This fixture has always provided fans with great entertainment and joy. The last game ended in a 4-1 victory in favor of Real Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana final. In La Liga, Real Madrid won their last encounter 2-1, with both goals coming from Jude Bellingham, who has been Los Blancos’ best player this season.
With the 257th El Clasico coming it is unfortunate that both teams have been plagued with injuries this season with Real Madrid missing important players like Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba, Dani Carvajal, and possibly star-boy Vinicius Junior. Barcelona, on the other hand, is missing players like Alex Balde and Gavi.
The picture on the left is Lionel Messi showing his shirt with his name and number to the Real Madrid fans after scoring a last-minute winner at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in 2017. In the picture on the right is Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo together in 2011.
With the 257th El Clasico coming up this Sunday, April 21, 2024, at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid is looking to complete a league double over Barcelona for the first time since the 2020/2021 season. Real Madrid is also looking to go 11 points clear at the top of La Liga. They are also looking to win their 36th La Liga crown. Barcelona is also looking to close the gap between them and their eternal rivals to retain their La Liga crown.
Real Madrid’s manager Carlo Ancelotti deploys a 4-4-2 counter-attacking diamond formation with Lunin as the goalkeeper, a four-man defense comprising Mendy, Nacho, Rudiger, and Carvajal. The midfield diamond consists of Kroos, Camavinga, Valverde, and Bellingham as the play-maker and the two center forwards in Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
Don Carlo sometimes plays a 4-3-3 counter-attacking formation with Mendy, Nacho, Rudiger, and Carvajal in the defense, Camavinga, Bellingham, and Tchouameni in the midfield, and Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, and Valverde in the attack, depending on the opposition.
The last time Don Carlo lost a game was 4-2 back in January to local rivals Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Ray quarterfinal. In their last 10 games, they have won 6 and drawn 4 times. On the beach, there are players such as Luka Modric, Brahim Diaz, Lucas Vazques, Militao, and Arda Guler.
Barcelona manager Xavier Hernández Creus deploys a 4-3-3 ultra-attacking and sometimes a 4-2-3-1 attacking formation with Ter Stegen in goal, a back four of Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, and Joao Cancelo, and a midfield of Pedri, De Jong, and Gundogan, and finally an attack of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, and Lewandowski leading the attack.
On the beach, Barcelona has players like Martines, Ferran Torres, Joao Felix, Marcos Alonso, and Fermin Lopez.
Real Madrid, according to an online poll by Hosanna Sports, are favorites going into this game with a 56.7% vote.
Real Madrid despite a couple of injury scares, has the most prominent players available for their match against arch-rivals Barcelona.
Predicted XI: A Lunin (GK), F Mendy, A Rudiger, Nacho, L Vazquez, L Modric, F Valverde, A Tchouameni, J Bellingham, B Diaz, and Joselu.
Barcelona, the visitors, would be looking to field their strongest possible eleven on the day of El Clasico, as their manager Xavi would look to earn a positive result against Real Madrid.
Predicted XI: M ter Stegen, J Kounde, R Araujo, P Cubarsi, J Cancelo, F de Jong, I Gundogan, P Gonzalez, Raphinha, L Nasraqui Ebana and R Lewandowski
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