A summary of the biggest club rivalry in Europe, El Clasico - Futbol Club Barcelona vs Real Madrid Club de Futbol on Sunday, November 29, 2009.
Along with the huge Super Clasico rivalry between Club Atletico Boca Juniors vs Club Atletico River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Real Madrid vs Barcelona match is the greatest club rivalry in world sports. And it is just a regularly scheduled league match, not a championship or play-off game!
Both clubs are enormously successful, especially Real Madrid, but there are a few key differentiators between the clubs:
- Real Madrid: The establishment
- Barca: The anti-establishment
- Real Madrid: Royalty, the Spanish Crown and the Spanish Empire & all its subjects in Latin America
- Barca: Separatist
- Real Madrid: $$$$$ MONEY $$$$$
- Barca: Lots of $$$$$, but not as much
- Real Madrid: Corporate, big business
- Barca: By the people, for the people
- Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo, world's most expensive & highest paid team athlete in sports history.
- Barca: Lionel Messi, the best player in the world today
- Real Madrid: Europe (via Portugal's C. Ronaldo)
- Barca: South America (via Argentina's Messi)
But by far the most apparent difference between the two clubs is, of course, their ideologies. The contrast has been highlighted even more glaringly over the past year as theThe BBC of London, England wrote the following excerpt of the world-wide importance of this twice-a-year Spanish league (La Liga) match:
"...Forget the Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid scoreline for just a moment - this was a game of exquisite, irresistible quality between two teams who are equally desperate to dominate the game for the next half a decade.
It was billed as the richest contest in the sport's history: Real, bolstered by the subjects of their summer spending spree, sent out a starting XI that cost £256m with a further £70m and Raul on the bench; Barca's team - with record £60m signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic among the substitutes - cost a more modest £61m, but was ably bolstered by youth products Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes.
For the first time ever they
showed it in 51 cinemas across Spain, such was the appetite for this
fiesta del futbol, and a global audience of one billion awaited in
salivating awe. Madrid's daily sports paper AS dubbed the fixture
'Cantera contra Galacticos', as Barca's brilliant batch of homegrown
stars took on the costliest team ever assembled..."
Here is the rest of the BBC Sports article.
Recap of the 1st Real vs Barca match of La Liga in the 2009 - 2010 season.
Argentina's & Barcelona's Lionel Messi, world's best player versus Spain's & Real Madrid's Raul.Messi escaping from fellow Argentine National Team teammate Gago (left) and Brazilian National Team member Marcelo in the Real vs Barca match.
Several years later, at last real madrid returns to win...
Posted by: creditos | May 04, 2012 at 07:08 AM
#ce n'est pas la fête pour
Posted by: Taobao auction | December 29, 2010 at 11:34 PM
No road is long with good company.*
Posted by: coach outlet | November 15, 2010 at 12:56 AM
this year will be the best game forever... with so many stars.
Posted by: laptop screens | August 05, 2010 at 07:27 AM
Barcelona is my favorite... this year they will win the Liga
Posted by: search engine optimization | August 02, 2010 at 08:59 AM
wow reading your article seems that Barça in the best team in the world for their ideals...well in spain we have the same image, the only point is some strange and every day more extremist political ideal inseide Barça...but that's the every day in catalonia right now.
Excelent post!
Posted by: multinivel | June 18, 2010 at 04:54 AM