Excitement is building ahead of El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, one of the biggest rivalries in world football. On Sunday, both sides will compete to leave Camp Nou with bragging rights.
The rivalry spans more than a century. Here is what to know about the fixture, from its early meetings to the political and legal disputes that surround the two clubs.
Early meetings and the birth of a fierce rivalry
The two teams first met in 1902 in the Copa de la Coronación, a predecessor of the current Copa del Rey. Barcelona won that match 3-1 on May 13, 1902, at the La Castellana hippodrome in Madrid.
It took six more meetings before the sides faced each other in La Liga on February 17, 1929. Real Madrid won 2-1, with Rafael Morera scoring twice. The creation of Spain’s top flight that year added further intensity to the rivalry.
The term “El Clasico”, meaning “The Classic” in Spanish, first appeared in a local newspaper during the 1960s. By then, the match had long been considered a huge derby. In the last two decades, the rivalry has featured Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho in the dugouts, and Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch.
Political undertones and the Negreira case
Madrid and Barcelona are Spain’s two largest cities, and that gap sits at the root of a rivalry with deep political undertones. The divide deepened in the 1930s. FC Barcelona, founded in 1899, came to symbolise Catalan independence, while Real, formed three years later, represented Spanish nationalism.
The rivalry has long gone beyond sport, with elections to the clubs’ presidencies strongly politicised. In recent times, the two clubs have been locked in a bitter war of words and ongoing legal disputes.
Earlier this month, Real Madrid submitted a 50,000-page dossier to UEFA, European football’s governing body, urging it to conclude its ongoing investigation into the Negreira case. The case concerns allegations that Barcelona paid millions of dollars, between 2001 and 2018, to the company of Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee, in an attempt to influence referee decisions.
On Monday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta criticised Real Madrid for “constantly attacking” La Liga. Real, meanwhile, have demanded that Javier Tebas resign from his posts as La Liga chief and vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The demand followed Tebas comparing the club’s rhetoric to the propaganda methods used by the Nazi Party in Germany.
Head-to-head record and current form
The overall head-to-head record is level, with 106 wins each and 52 draws. Over the last five years, Barcelona have won 10 El Clasicos to Real’s nine. In the last 10 meetings, Barcelona lead 6-4.
Barcelona are the current league leaders and strong favourites for Sunday. They have won all nine of their La Liga matches this season, while Real have lost twice and sit third, six points behind.
A Barcelona victory would mean back-to-back El Clasico wins, following their 2-0 win last season on May 10. That result also allowed the club to retain the title, and it was only the second time the outcome of La Liga had been decided directly by the El Clasico result.
