El Clásico is a term used to describe the hotly contested rivalry between two of the biggest Spanish teams in football, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
In the beginning, El Clasico was seen as a domestic rivalry that would only take place in domestic competitions of the Spanish speaking world and primarily Spain, itself. Domestic football leagues like La Laliga, Coupa del Ray served as mouth-watering avenues to witness this historic rivalry take place.
In the recent past, the rivalry that was once restricted to its native land has now emerged as one of the biggest and most revered to the international audiences of football as well. It is currently viewed as one of the most popular rivalries of its time.
One of the most common reasons for this rivalry to flourish was the clash of arguably two of the best footballers of this generation, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The rivalry has had its fair share of controversies the main being the transfer of Luis Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid. Luis Figo signed a pre-contract with Florentino Perez to join the club if he won the elections, and Perez did win elections as a result Figo joined Real Madrid breaking the hearts of his Barcelona fans.
Statistically speaking overall there have been 279 clashes between these two Spanish giants in which Barcelona has had the upper hand with 115 victories while Real Madrid has managed to win 102 while 62 matches ended within a draw.
Sergio Ramos (currently the captain of Real Madrid) and Lionel Messi (currently the captain of FC Barcelona) have had the most appearances having appeared 45 times each. Lionel Messi has been the most valuable player of rivalry with 26 goals to his name. The biggest margin of victory recorded in the recorded legacy of El-Clasico is Real Madrid defeating Barcelona by 10 goals with the final scores on the board showing the total tally to be 11-1 on June 1943 with the only goal being scored by Martin. A.
This heated rivalry has split the footballing world down the middle. Half of the world supports Barcelona and the other 50% backs Real Madrid.
The rivalry has lost lustre since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus and the transfer of Andreas Iniesta from Barcelona to Vissel Kobe, but remains pivotal and popular as ever among devoted football enthusiasts and shows no signs of letting up.
