real madrid vs barcelona essay

FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid

Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the best and most successful football (soccer) teams not just in Spain but in all of Europe.

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Anonymous comments (5).

March 7, 2013, 6:52pm Its all about Real Madrid — 152.✗.✗.31

April 28, 2014, 11:41am Barcelona is the club with glorious history.. his story means messi's story.. — 223.✗.✗.113

April 13, 2014, 7:45pm Real Madrid is best ever or forever — 199.✗.✗.31

February 10, 2014, 2:04pm Real is the best club ever — 108.✗.✗.84

July 9, 2013, 3:27pm hala madrid...barca sucks very badly — 59.✗.✗.148

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El Clasico: Barcelona v Real Madrid by Richard Fitzpatrick – review

I n August 1973, the Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, then at the peak of his considerable powers, signed for Barcelona. He had been pursued by Real Madrid too, but spurned their advances by saying he would never play for a team "associated with Franco". To cement his hero-rebel status, Cruyff led his new club to a 5-0 away victory against Real Madrid and a few days afterwards, in February 1974, he named his newborn son Jordi. Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalonia and it was a pointed move as General Franco had not only banned the Catalan language but also outlawed Catalan names (Jorge being the preferred Spanish iteration of George).

Cruyff formed an immediate bond with Barcelona – he still lives in the city – but his decision also reflected a prevailing wisdom that Real Madrid were the team of the regime. They enjoyed favoured status and preferential treatment from Spanish administrators and referees, at least until General Franco died in his bed in late 1975 – or that was how the story went. Barcelona were oppressed and beaten down.

It is hard to think of Barcelona as underdogs any more. They have won the Spanish league three out of the last four years, and the Champions League twice in the same period. Their players dominate the Spain side that has lifted the last two European championships and the 2010 World Cup. It is often debated whether they are the greatest team ever to play the game .

And yet, when it comes to matches against Real Madrid, Barcelona still manage to remain the little guy, the neutral's favourite. Real Madrid are the galácticos , the name given to their annual raid of the world's greatest talent. Barcelona, meanwhile, are a hotchpotch assembled from home-grown, local kids inculcated at their vaunted youth academy, La Masia. The Spanish have a neat expression for the difference in philosophy: cantera  versus cartera (youth system against wallet).

The idea of a David and Goliath struggle has a physical basis too. Barcelona's famous five frontline, led by La Masia-trained Lionel Messi , averages just 5ft 7in; a 2012 study by the Professional Football Players Observatory measured top-flight teams from 33 leagues and found that Barcelona's squad was the smallest. Real Madrid, revealingly, had the tallest players in La Liga. Throw in the fact that, in recent years, Barca forfeited millions to carry Unicef as their main shirt sponsor and the lines between good and evil are clearly drawn.

The fractious relationship between Real Madrid and Barcelona is picked apart and often challenged by Richard Fitzpatrick in his comprehensive, enlightening, though occasionally scattergun El Clásico (the name given to matches between the two teams). He calls it "football's greatest rivalry", and while that might not win him too many friends in Manchester or Glasgow, it will not be too contentious to non-partisan fans. As Sid Lowe, a Guardian and Observer writer, observes, the pair appear to spur each other to further excellence every season. "They are McEnroe and Borg, Coe and Ovett," he tells Fitzpatrick. "They are producing unbelievable statistics, partly because they have to."

The secret to any rivalry – as those examples from tennis and athletics remind us – is a clash of styles and ideologies. Although Real Madrid (signified by a raging bull) and Barcelona (represented by a Catalan donkey) have been playing each other for more than a century, Fitzpatrick observes that the intense competition is a relatively recent phenomenon. Real Madrid – the "royal" status was conferred in 1920 by King Alfonso XIII – have mostly been preoccupied with their el derbi clashes with cross-town rivals Atlético Madrid. Barcelona only established themselves as pretenders in the 1990s, when Cruyff had returned to manage the club and created a dream team that won the league six times in the decade.

Part of the reason the fixture has taken so long to become established is Spain's distinctive approach to fandom. Barcelona have around 173,000 members, but only a few hundred will travel to away games. "In England, people have really only got their football," explains John Carlin, an author and El Pais journalist who lives in Barcelona. "Here, they've got namby-pamby stuff like going to lunch with their grandmothers or going for a walk by the sea." One Barca fan tells Fitzpatrick that at el clásico matches fighting is more likely to break out between rightwing and leftwing factions of the same club than it is between rival sets of supporters.

Fitzpatrick's book is invaluable for the context that it gives a match that you might have watched superficially for years. It makes perfect sense, for example, that Real Madrid – the current home of José Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo – are historically known for their chuleria , a Spanish word for "arrogance" or "swagger" (contrast with Barca's star pairing, Messi and Pep Guardiola, who recently stepped down as manager, typically compared to seminarians). On the other side, the author, a Barcelona resident, neatly links the team's intricate play with the invention of Catalan chef Ferran Adrià , and with the phrase seny i rauxa : "common sense and madness".

Increasingly, however, the two behemoths have more in common than differences. Despite their ground-breaking academy, Barcelona actually spent more on transfers during the summer of 2011 than Real Madrid; they also now have a shirt-sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation that pays £25m a year for five years. La Liga is fast becoming an undesirable two-horse race: in 2011, the team that finished third, Valencia, were almost as close to the relegation zone as they were to Barcelona and Real Madrid out front. Both teams have a distressing rap sheet of racist incidents.

El clásico is the greatest show on Earth right now, but the fate of Glasgow's Rangers is a timely reminder that these rivalries do not always remain inviolable for ever.

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Rory Smith On Soccer

Real Madrid vs. Barcelona: Too Big to Fall

The Clásico has lost some of its luster as a season-defining day, but while its profile has fallen, its importance has not.

By Rory Smith

It does not require a great leap of the imagination to envision the final few weeks of the season playing out like this:

Atlético Madrid, shredded by nerves and running on fumes, surrenders its place at the summit of La Liga. Barcelona, restored and unbeaten since the turn of the year, supplants Diego Simeone’s team, reclaiming its crown.

At the same time, Real Madrid , the familiar scent of European glory in its nostrils, breezes past Liverpool and edges Chelsea to win a place in the Champions League final. Real Madrid would, by most measures, be the underdog in Istanbul. Manchester City and Bayern Munich, certainly, are more coherent, more complete teams. Even Paris St.-Germain, its mission for revenge fueled by the brilliance of Kylian Mbappé, has more star power, more forward momentum, as it proved so thrillingly on Wednesday night in Munich.

But it is Real Madrid, and it is the Champions League, and these things do not necessarily conform to logic. It and Barcelona, the twin, repelling poles of the Clásico, each may be no more than seven weeks from glory. Both have spent much of this campaign in what looked like free fall. It is hardly inconceivable that, in a few weeks, they will have come to rest, still at the pinnacle.

That does not mean that the perception was an illusion. Barcelona’s financial strife is alarmingly real , even after the election of a new president. Its salary commitments are still greater than those of any other team. Its squad is still aging. It has still frittered away hundreds of millions of dollars in the transfer market. It has still squandered its legacy, still alienated the greatest star in its history, still lost sight of itself.

Real Madrid’s situation is not quite as perilous, but here, too, are the telltale signs of institutional complacency and endemic drift. Its team is starting to creak with age. Its policy of paying premium fees for prodigious young talents — often with only a smattering of senior games under their belts — has not yet yielded the fruit the club imagined.

Its payroll, too, is littered with unwanted high-earners; Real Madrid’s finances have been stretched by the revamp of the Santiago Bernabéu that has forced it to play home games at its training facility for a year; its belief that it can sign both Erling Haaland and Mbappé over the next two summers seems fanciful at best and faintly hubristic at worst. Lulled by glamour and success, Real Madrid has allowed itself to be transformed into the personal fief of its president, Florentino Pérez .

All of those issues were not imagined by a muckraking, scurrilous news media; they are not proof of some sweeping anti-Barcelona and yet somehow also anti-Madrid conspiracy. They are real, and they all manifest on Saturday, when the clubs will meet on the outskirts of the Spanish capital for the second Clásico of the season.

When, 50 years from now, sports historians come to look back on European soccer’s imperial phase, examining how it became what David Goldblatt has described as the single greatest cultural phenomenon of the modern era, they could do worse than to start with those 18 days in 2011 when Real and Barcelona played one another four times.

Even from the relatively shallow vantage point of 2021, those two and a half weeks have the air of a seed and a flower, a dawn and a dusk and the midday sun. It was, in the first decade of the 21st century, what soccer had been building toward. It would be what soccer, in the second decade of the 21st century, would measure everything against.

The Clásico was not only the meeting of soccer’s two great powers or the world’s two best teams. It was also the clash of its two brightest stars, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the supernova game. It was a battle of wills and a battle of minds: José Mourinho against Pep Guardiola, defense against attack, destruction against creation, darkness against light.

These were days when soccer held its breath.

It is somehow fitting, then, a decade later, that the most materially impactful Clásico of the last few years will take place on Saturday night in the Éstadio Alfredo Di Stéfano, rather than the Bernabéu. It is a reduced circumstance for a diminished game.

The stakes are high. The winner will take prime position to dislodge Atlético Madrid from the summit of La Liga. The loser, as is the case whenever these two meet, will suddenly be flirting with crisis. It is, without question, the biggest game of the weekend. It is not, though, the centerpiece of the European season as once it was, the fixture that makes the world stand still.

In part, that is because of the decline of the teams themselves. Barcelona and Real Madrid are no longer the two best teams on the planet. That honor, currently, falls somewhere between Manchester and Munich. It would be possible to build an argument that neither Spanish giant is, at this moment, in the top five.

There is still Messi, of course, but there is no Ronaldo, no Xavi, no Andrés Iniesta, no Xabi Alonso. Both teams are in the throes of (reluctant) generational change, works in various stages of progress. The quality — aesthetic and technical — will not be as high as it was on Wednesday night, when P.S.G. stormed the Allianz Arena.

But that is also because of the broader decline of La Liga. Spain has long since vacated its position of primacy. France is the world champion, and the world’s most prodigious producer of players . Germany — and, to some extent, the city of Leeds — is the wellspring of soccer’s ideas. England is home to its finest league. Spain, as a whole, has lost its place at the vanguard.

And yet, for all that, it is not difficult to envision the season ending with celebrations on Las Ramblas and at the Plaza de Cibeles, with Barcelona anointed kings of Spain and Real Madrid restored to its traditional status as Rey de Copas .

That such a denouement is possible is testament, first, to our tendency to assume that decline — soccer as a whole, in fact — runs in straight lines, to reverse-engineer an explanation for every event. If Barcelona wins a championship, rumors of its demise must have been greatly exaggerated. If Real Madrid wins the Champions League, its methods must work.

It does not always, if ever, work like that. Sometimes things happen. Sometimes stars align. Not everything has a deeper meaning, and not every success illustrates some broader truth. Sometimes Liverpool wins the Champions League with Djimi Traoré at left back. Sometimes Croatia gets a golden generation. Had Real Madrid been paired with Manchester City, rather than Liverpool, in the Champions League quarterfinals this week, its almost mystical relationship with the European Cup would not seem quite so potent.

But that Barcelona and Real Madrid can be so close to the summit after a season spent at the depths is also a reminder that how far, and how fast, you fall is only one part of the equation. The other is where you are coming from.

Between them, Barcelona and Madrid account for seven of the last 14 Champions League titles. They were soccer’s animating force for more than a decade. Each, at different times in that period, reached heights that few teams have reached. Both remain fabulously wealthy, in terms of talent and in terms of revenue. Both retain many of the players who helped them to touch the sky. Their talent may have waned, but it has not evaporated.

Eras do not end overnight. History does not run in a straight line. The Clásico of 2021 will be a shadow of the Clásicos of 2011. That Real Madrid and Barcelona have fallen is not in question. But it should be no surprise that there might yet be glory awaiting one, or both of them. They did, after all, have quite a long way to fall.

Take a Stand, but Lose 3 Points

It is hard to identify the most dispiriting part of the episode last weekend in which Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby reported that he was racially abused by the Cádiz defender Juan Cala. Ordinarily, there would be a clear answer: that it happened at all. This time, though, there is another option: that it is hard to identify whether that was, in fact, the most dispiriting part.

First of all, there is the fact that it was not the only episode of racist abuse of a soccer player that weekend: several more players, as always happens , were racially abused online. Then there is the fact that, even if Cala is telling the truth in his stringent denials of the accusation, if there has just been some sort of misunderstanding, we are still in a position in which it is easy to believe a soccer player might have been racially abused by an opponent, on the field, in 2021.

And finally, there was the sight of Valencia — having initially walked off the field in solidarity with Diakhaby — returning to play out the game, without the victim, but against the accused perpetrator. Cala had asked to play on, and did so. Diakhaby, on the other hand, was understandably not in the right mind to continue.

His club played on, it revealed later, because it had been warned — by some unidentified third party — that it would be risking a points deduction if it did not return to the field. If this is true, it does not reflect especially well on Valencia: How many points, exactly, is your player’s dignity worth ?

More important, the decision to continue (and to threaten to punish a team that will not) reflects appallingly on soccer’s antiracism posturing. All the slogans and all the campaigns in the world are worth nothing if, when presented with an accusation of racist abuse on the field, the immediate reaction is to try to stifle protest, to protect the product at all costs.

As usual, this is an area in which soccer’s authorities — more than the players, certainly, and to an extent the clubs — are complicit . These decisions should not be ad hoc, rested on the shoulders of the individual who has endured abuse. If a player believes he has been racially abused, the referee should be under instructions to call off the game. There should be no threat of punishment, no gray area. It is for the sport as a whole to make a stand, on behalf of those who play it.

Sign of the Times

In hindsight, maybe it was the context, not the act itself, that caused such consternation. The officials in Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday did not, it is fair to say, have a great evening: The decision to rule out Jude Bellingham’s goal — and, more to the point, to do so before the video assistant referee was able to contribute — did not exactly scream competence, after all.

Still, the outrage that followed those fleeting glimpses of the assistant referee, Octavian Sobre, asking Erling Haaland to autograph his red and yellow cards felt a little overblown. The point of autographs has always eluded me — look at this scrap of paper that a person I have seen on television unthinkingly and resentfully scrawled on! — but it is hard to read the incident as anything other than entirely harmless and even, deep down, quite sweet.

Why should an official not want a souvenir of what is likely to be one of the biggest occasions of his career? Who, exactly, is suffering here? Why would we automatically assume that Sobre, who has devoted decades to his job, would sacrifice the integrity of his decisions just because he happened to be a big fan of everyone’s favorite goal cyborg? (Sitting at the Etihad as the controversy unspooled, it was hard not to notice quite how much emphasis seemed to be placed on Sobre’s nationality, too.)

As it turned out, of course, there was a wholly different rationale for it. Haaland was not particularly special. Sobre had also hoped to get an autograph from Pep Guardiola. He has been collecting them for years, then auctioning them on behalf of an autism charity he supports in his native Romania. At that point, the shouting was quieted, just a little.

It would be nice to think that a lesson might be learned here: to gather all of the available facts before rushing to judgment; to avoid leaping to the most aggravating conclusion possible; to resist the temptation to meet the slightest perceived transgression with fury. You probably wouldn’t hold your breath, though.

Correspondence

An open goal presented by Alexander Da Silva , who is (admirably) starting a “book club themed around soccer history, politics and tactics,” and wants advice on possible reading material. Well, Alexander, this one was critically acclaimed. It didn’t sell especially well, but if anything that just makes it more exclusive.

As for other — some might say lesser, not me, but some — works, there is an abundance. So many, in fact, that I wonder if I should put some sort of list together: It’s a question we get reasonably frequently.

In short: Jonathan Wilson’s “Inverting the Pyramid” remains the compulsory work on tactical history. Depending on which sort of politics you’re interested in, there’s “Fear and Loathing in La Liga” (Sid Lowe), “Angels With Dirty Faces” (Wilson again, you can’t escape him), “Brilliant Orange” (David Winner) or Simon Kuper’s “Football Against the Enemy,” which is more than 25 years old now, but remains genre-forming. For more modern material, “The Club,” by Josh Robinson and Jon Clegg, encapsulates the Premier League era.

I’d also recommend the James Montague canon: “When Friday Comes,” “Thirty-One Nil” and particularly his most recent, “1312: Among the Ultras,” all of which are fantastic. My favorite soccer book of all, though, remains “This Love Is Not for Cowards,” by Robert Andrew Powell.

Mark Gromko , meanwhile, takes me to task for my “evident disregard for Manchester City. You are tired of the money, the organization, the style of play. Some of us, however, find watching the skill of the players, the coordination and precision of the teamwork, the depth of the squad, and the brilliance of the coach wonderful to watch.”

There is no argument from me on any of that — though I’d contest that I’m tired of any of it; not emotionally stimulated is probably a better description — but I would hold off on any particularly ardent criticism. City will, of course, come much more into focus as they pursue all four major trophies — starting in a couple of weeks, in the Carabao Cup final — and we will be covering them in the detail they deserve.

Rory Smith is the chief soccer correspondent, based in Manchester, England. He covers all aspects of European soccer and has reported from three World Cups, the Olympics, and numerous European tournaments. More about Rory Smith

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A Different Kind of Superstar:  Nigel Sylvester, one of the world’s most famous BMX riders, has used social media and collaborations to become one of his sport's most recognizable figures .

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Copa Del Rey

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How Real Madrid beat Barcelona 4-0 in Clasico thanks to Benzema hat-trick to advance to Copa del Rey final

Real Madrid have beaten Barcelona 4-0 at the Camp Nou in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final, advancing to the final by an aggregate score of 4-1 where they will face Osasuna .

Carlo Ancelotti's side looked second-best for the opening 45 minutes, but a stunning counter-attack capped off by a Vinicius Junior goal saw them level the tie in first-half injury time.

Karim Benzema took over in the second half, scoring the first hat-trick for a Real player at the Camp Nou since 1963 to seal his club's berth in the final on May 6.

Analysing Barcelona 0-4 Real Madrid

The Athletic ’s Dermot Corrigan, Tomás Hill López-Menchero and Mark Carey have analysed the key talking points from this wild match, including:

• The Karim Benzema show
• Madrid = knockout football experts
• Camp Nou longs for Messi
• More frustration for Lewandowski
• A big win for Ancelotti, but is it enough?
• Balde is bold, but Barca are blunt

Xavi: We didn't take advantage of good first half

Xavi had more to say to the media after the brutal loss: "The second goal penalizes us a lot. I think we had a very good first half, but we didn't take advantage of it. I've said it many times, for me Madrid is the favorite overall. They're the champion of the Champions League."

On the scuffles in the match: "It's logical that it ends up heated, it's a Clasico.

"Congratulations to Real Madrid, who have put together a great second half and competed very well. It's no coincidence that they have won the Champions League, they have a great team."

Xavi strikes optimistic tone

"If we win La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup it will be a good season. If we win those two titles, what happened today won't tarnish the season."

Ancelotti: Benzema can win another Ballon d'Or

On Karim Benzema's second straight hat-trick: "After the game on Sunday, we said it. The work he has done during the break has helped him. He has regained his optimum condition and he makes a difference, without a doubt."

On whether Benzema can win another Ballon d'Or: "Why not? Without a doubt, he is still one of the best players in the world at the moment. If he is well, he makes the difference."

On Eduardo Camavinga's performance: "He's very young, he's in a good moment, he's getting used to playing as a pivot, as a left-back. Like the others, he has been important. We still think that Camavinga is a left-back in emergency situations.

"These are games where the player's personality is very important. I've tried to mix energy with Rodrygo, with Valverde, with Camavinga."

On Vinicius Junior: "It was a game with some contact, nerves. I took him off because it didn't make sense to keep him on the pitch. We preferred to take him off."

Ancelotti: 'The first goal changed the dynamic of the game'

Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the media after his side's comprehensive victory: "It was a complete game, it was a good moment of suffering in the first half. The first goal changed the dynamic of the game and we created a lot of damage in the transitions when we had space."

How Real Madrid have changed compared to the previous Clasicos this season: "The approach has been the same, I've changed Rodrygo's position to give more depth, but then the small details decide the games."

What he's most proud of in today's game: "I'm most proud of the fact that the boiler is back to temperature, it's the most important moment of the season."

If this triumph is a message about his managerial future: "Absolutely no demands, I’m very happy to train a great time and a great club.”

On telling Jagoba Arrasate, Osasuna manager, when they played in La Liga that their two sides would meet in the final: "It was a joke, but it's the reality. We're very happy, it's going to be a final with a very nice atmosphere."

Bale praises Real's performance

While I'm sure he has the upcoming Masters Tournament in Augusta on his mind, Gareth Bale has made the time to celebrate his former team's stunning victory:

Real Madrid vs Osasuna

Real Madrid and Osasuna will meet in the Copa del Rey final in Seville on May 6.

Real will be going for their 20th title in this competition and first since 2014, while Osasuna will be hoping to lift the first major honor in the history of the club, which dates back over a century.

Osasuna have appeared in the final once before, losing in extra time in 2005 to Real Betis.

The two clubs have already played both of their La Liga matches this season. Osasuna earned a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu in October before Real won 2-0 in Pamplona in February.

Ill-tempered match

This match saw several scuffles, 29 fouls and a whopping 11 yellow cards.

(All photos by Getty Images)

Real partying like it's 1963

Real Madrid scored at least four goals against Barcelona in any competition for the first time since a 4-1 La Liga victory in May 2008, and for the first time at the Camp Nou since a 5-1 league win in January 1963.

Ancelotti should stay

Carlo Ancelotti has flaws, there is no better example than Real Madrid's struggles in La Liga, which is unacceptable, but after what was achieved last season and what's possible this year with the squad he has, for me he has to continue as the club's manager.

Breaking down this stunning result

The Athletic ’s Dermot Corrigan, Tomás Hill López-Menchero and Mark Carey have analysed the big talking points from an exciting encounter, including:

Never sleep on Benzema

I believe we had forgotten that Karim Benzema was the last Ballon d'Or winner.

Now we’ll remember this Clasico for ever.

Make it make sense

This Barcelona defence just conceding nine goals in their 27 La Liga games so far is among the most baffling things ever.

Carlo Ancelotti's job supposedly hanging by a thread is also pretty baffling.

Stunning turnaround from lackluster first half

I thought Real Madrid were going to get blown away in the first half hour here. This was a really impressive performance after getting the opener.

Just imagine how many pints of Madrí they'll be having in the Spanish capital tonight!

Guti congratulates Ancelotti

The former Real Madrid midfielder has taken to Twitter to laud the team's brilliant performance in this match:

Benzema makes Clasico history

After 43 Clasico appearances in all competitions, Karim Benzema has scored his first hat-trick against Barcelona.

He's the first Real Madrid player to record a hat-trick in a Clasico since Ivan Zamorano in 1995, and the first to do so at the Camp Nou since Ferenc Puskas in 1963!

And don't forget, he was inches away from getting the credit for Vinicius Junior's opening goal as well!

FT: Barcelona 0-4 Real Madrid

The whistle blows for full-time, putting Barcelona out of their misery.

Real advance to the Copa del Rey final by an aggregate score of 4-1, marking a stunning turnaround in this tie after they lost the first leg at home.

Eleven (11!) yellow cards

90+2' Barcelona 0-4 Real Madrid

(Real lead 4-1 on aggregate)

Ansu Fati is the 11th player to earn himself a yellow card in this match.

Video of Benzema's hat-trick goal

Check out the replay of Real's fourth goal here:

FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid: A Long History of Rivalry Fraught With Politics

charnsitr/Shutterstock

Barcelona vs Real Madrid is a match that keeps Spain on edge every time. If you are lucky enough to be in the stadium, you will find yourself surrounded by a deafening crowd and a breathtaking sight. In the streets, however, you won’t find a soul, as almost everyone will be getting ready to watch the game at a pub or a bar. In fact, on some occasions, this match was expected to host over 650 million viewers worldwide .

The anticipation is so high that many football fans would even dig in deeper, preparing, wondering and asking questions before each game: Where can I watch Barcelona vs Real Madrid? How much are the tickets for the Barcelona-Madrid game? Can Barcelona beat Real Madrid?

Predictions, bets and conversations about the line-up are the only things you would hear before the expected matches. Plan ahead or trust me, you won’t be able to find a place in any bar to watch the games. The Internet speed would lag, and no one is going to have an extra seat at their place.

Though FC Barcelona and Real Madrid matches seem trivial for some, thinking they are just sports events, it goes much deeper than that. To understand the hype surrounding these prominent football clubs, ahead we’ll explore their long history — how politics played a part in their bitter rivalry that spans decades.

Madrid is a city of over seven million inhabitants; it is geographically and politically situated at the center of Spain. Less than 500 miles away from Madrid, at the Mediterranean coast, lies Barcelona, the second-biggest city with a population of approximately three million.

Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia and one of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain, has always had a strong, divergent tradition from the rest of Spain. For many years, its cultural roots have been prohibited and prosecuted, as they were considered “threats” to the unity of Spain. During the last decade, many attempts to achieve a legal referendum for Catalan people to decide their political future have been made. But the main hurdle for Catalonia’s independence has always been Madrid, the seat of the Spanish government.

During the era of Francisco Franco, Spain’s infamous dictator from the ’30s, Real Madrid was the symbol of the political system and the Spanish government, and FC Barcelona was used for a propaganda exercise in favor of Catalonia’s independence and self-determination.

The Beginnings and the First “El Clásico”

FC Barcelona, known as Barça in Spain, was founded by a Swiss named Hans Gamper in 1899, while Real Madrid was founded two years later by the Padrós brothers, who were actually from Catalonia. Both clubs started posting ads in local newspapers to attract potential players for their teams.

The first “ El Clásico ,” a term referring to the match between the two football clubs, took place on May 13, 1902 in Madrid, which was attended by an audience that had yet to understand how that new sport worked. That first Real Madrid vs Barcelona game was organized by the “Copa de la Coronación” or Coronation Cup, which was created by Madrid FC to honor the king at the time, Alfonso XIII .

FC Barcelona won the game and reached the final of the Cup against Biscaya. But a Catalan team vs a Basque team aiming for the Coronation Cup in the capital of Spain, the headquarters of the monarchy, was not exactly what the organizers were looking for.

In order to fix this, the organizers threw a consolation game between Madrid FC and Espanyol, another Catalan football team, calling the trophy “La Copa de la Gran Peña.” Phil Ball, the author of “White Storm: The History of Real Madrid,” even speculated in his book that the trophy for the tournament was from the personal collection of one of the organizers.

Emerging Rivalry

The first strong sign of rivalry between the two teams took place in 1916 in a highly disputed game that gave victory to Real Madrid, or the “Los Blancos,” in which the FC Barcelona players left the stadium in an act of protest against the referee who had a known predilection for Madrid.

During the next couple of decades, both teams had their dominant rounds.

Madrid FC gained its “Real” title in 1920, becoming officially the Real Madrid, but lost it in 1931 when Spain became a Republic.

The first football star who played for both teams and set the rivalry on fire was Ricardo Zamora. A former player for Barça, Zamora raised the Cup of the Republic for the capital in another tense Barcelona vs Madrid game in 1936.

The Civil War

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out. On one side, there’s the National Front, led by the nationalists, who were aiming for a unified Spain under Madrid’s order. On the other, there’s the Republicans, who used Barcelona as their last headquarters before their eventual downfall.

When the war ended in 1939, the National Front installed Franco as the head and dictator of state. And when football came back after the war, FC Barcelona was regarded by the government as the face of the Republicans.

This led to one of the most infamous Barcelona vs Real Madrid games in 1943 in which the latter won at a crushing 11-1 score. For Barcelona’s players, they felt like gladiators entering the coliseum, and the environment was full of revenge and hate . The embarrassment of the directives led the president of the club to his resignation.

Barcelona vs Real Madrid During the Dictatorship

The ’50s became a successful decade for both teams, with Real Madrid earning five European Cups, and Barcelona winning several national tournaments.

For Real Madrid, the game changer had a name: Alfredo Di Stéfano. The Argentinian player was heavily disputed by the two teams, even considered the possibility of making him sign for alternative seasons with either clubs . Eventually, Real Madrid got the star it needed to place itself to an international level.

Barcelona, on the other hand, signed Ladislao Kubala. Like Di Stéfano, Kubala showed the world a new way of playing football, introducing new techniques and strategies.

Throughout the decades, with both teams showing their best skills, the rivalry between them reached a different level — observing a spike in attendances to Real Madrid vs Barcelona games that were never seen before. With the obvious rise of football’s popularity, Camp Nou was built for FC Barcelona. Today, Camp Nou is the biggest football stadium in Europe with a capacity of almost 100,000 spectators.

La copa del Generalísimo

There are few Barcelona vs Real Madrid games with a poorer reputation than the ones played in 1968.

The first leg of the Generalismo’s Cup, in honor of Franco and what later became The King’s Cup, ended with a win for FC Barcelona and with Real Madrid fans tossing glass bottles to the players.

Two days later, on the second leg, Madrid won the title, and Barcelona protested, throwing the cushions from the seats to the playground. According to the referee, Madrid’s directives approached him before the match, promising him a good present after the event. It was, by then, revealed that Real Madrid was allegedly giving away golden watches to the referees if the score turned according to their expectations.

Where Can I Watch the Barcelona vs Real Madrid Game?

We have multiple choices nowadays when it comes to watching a show or a sports event, but during the ’60s, however, there were only two options: You could go into the stadium or watch the games on the television. In today’s Spain where football media is privatized, there are no games broadcast on public television.

Despite the lack of success for FC Barcelona during these decades, its membership grew exponentially due to the increasing immigration to Catalonia. Television not only helped fans watch the game but also provided a medium for people to express their discontent against Franco’s regime. Since the dictator banned the Catalan language, the right of self-management and vote among other aspects of life, football — and FC Barcelona in particular — became the only way for the Catalan people to rebel.

In Barcelona, it is commonly said that most of the titles won by Real Madrid during those decades were allegedly thanks to Franco’s influence .

Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Beyond Sports

For many football fans, they usually choose a football team to support depending on where they are born. They can, however, also support a team according to their values. For many, the history of Barcelona vs Real Madrid has reached a level that goes beyond sports.

Polemic matches such as in 1902, 1943 and 1968 increased a rivalry that made it a matter of principles and convictions: Real Madrid was the team of the regime and the crown, and the ambassador for Spain to Europe. Barcelona, on the other side, was the resistance and the voice of freedom.

And all that was even before the idea of independence was on the table.

The ’70s appeared, for many, to be a decade of hope and change for Catalonia and for FC Barcelona, which signed the best football player in the world at the time, Johan Cruyff . Cruyff joined Barça in 1973 after the ban from signing foreign players was lifted.

It was also a decade for Barça to boost Catalanism among the club’s values.

In 1972, the Catalan language was heard through the stadium’s speakers. A year later, the president changed the name of the club back to FC Barcelona from Club de Futbol Barcelona, which was instated by the Franco regime. In 1974, on its 75 th anniversary, the FC Barcelona anthem in Catalan was sung for the first time in the stadium. Then in 1975, after a few months of Franco’s death, thousands of “senyeres,” or the Catalan liberation flag, were smuggled into the stadium, which made a huge impact across Spain through its broadcast on television.

The Dream Team and the Vulture’s Cohort

For “Merengues,” Los Bancos or Real Madrid fans, the ’80s were the years of the Vulture’s Cohort, a young team assembled by Di Stéfano and led by Emilio Butragueño, which earned several triumphs in Europe and Spain.

In Catalonia, on the other hand, the Dream Team was created and led by Cruyff. Another important figure for Barcelona was in its line-up: Pep Guardiola, and the team gained its first European title in 1992.

The Dream Team implemented a style of playing football that was never seen before: the characteristics of moving the ball rapidly across the field, and long plays that included most of the line-up. Later on, this tactic was named “tiki-taka.”

More Controversy Between Barcelona vs Real Madrid

The ’90s were a decade of change for Spanish football. Past the years of transition from Franco’s regime, both teams showed a power so strong that made the rivalry between them to resurface again.

One of the most iconic players in FC Barcelona, Hristo Stoichov, stepped on a referee’s foot in 1995. Two years later, Giovanni, a Barça midfielder, showed a “butifarra,” a Catalan way of giving someone the finger, to the Whites audience. Raúl, a very respectable player for Real Madrid, also placed his finger in front of his lips to shush the crowd in Camp Nou in 1999.

Among other events, those were some of the controversies that made that decade a one to remember. The rivalry was on, more than ever.

The term “manita,” referring to a 5-0 on the score, also became famous. One of the most notorious examples of this was with Michael Laudrup on Barcelona’s side, giving victory to his team in 1994. Another manita by the same player happened a year later, but he wore the Real Madrid shirt and gave victory to the Merengues.

Broken Hearts

Another important aspect, which is impossible to elude, that makes this rivalry a historic one, are the trespasses of players from one team to another. Since the early decades, players switching from Madrid to Barcelona and vice versa broke fan’s hearts and hurt audience’s feelings.

Perhaps one of the most unforgettable was Luis Figo, one of the most loved players of Barça. He signed for Real Madrid in 2000, and the first time he set foot in Barcelona’s stadium, all kinds of objects were thrown at him, including a pig’s head that was found near the corner of Camp Nou.

On the other hand, another highly acclaimed player and soon-to-be coach at the time, Luis Enrique, changed teams from Real Madrid to FC Barcelona in 1989.

Needless to say, the ones that came were worshipped, and the ones who left were crucified.

The Modern Era

In 2003, after some seasons without any remarkable victory, Ronaldinho signed for Barça. The Barcelona vs Real Madrid match in Madrid in 2003 remains unforgettable in the minds of both spectators. Ronaldinho sentenced a 0-3 victory for FC Barcelona, and always with a smile on his face, showcased a set of skills and abilities never seen before. For the first time, Madrid fans stood up and applauded the performance of a Barça player.

That was also the season of the “Galácticos,” an era where Real Madrid tried to outshine FC Barcelona by signing the best players worldwide, aiming to become the richest football club in the world.

During the first decade of the new century, Real Madrid also won a Champions League and five Ligas, among other titles. On the other hand, Barcelona earned its second Champions League in 2006, which was led by Ronaldinho and a young Lionel Messi.

Times Have Changed

In 2008, Guardiola became FC Barcelona’s coach, and a year later, Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Real Madrid. After that, Barcelona won another Clásico by 2-6.

That was a turning point for Real Madrid’s directives.

Their response was to hire José Mourinho as their new manager. The Portuguese coach eliminated Barcelona from the Champions League the previous season, and along with Cristiano Ronaldo, they became a fearful adversary for Barça. The pair, with their strong personality and tendency for controversy, provided the perfect scenario for one of the greatest rivalries on the field — and on the benches.

I remember these years as if nothing else existed but Barcelona and Real Madrid, Guardiola and Mourinho, and Ronaldo and Messi.

There was practically nothing else on the sports section on the television, and bringing the subject into conversation was almost unavoidable.

From 2008 to 2020, however, the reign belonged to FC Barcelona as it won La Liga, La Copa del Rey and the Champions League in the same season, providing a game resembling the one by Cruyff that made the team almost invincible.

The season of 2010/2011 brought a change in the history of Barcelona vs Real Madrid forever.

Four Clásicos were held in three frenetic weeks, combining the three major titles of European football (La Liga, Champions League and La Copa del Rey).

Those matches put on hold the lives of many Spaniards. Each and every one of them left a collection of moments that remained unforgettable.

Press conferences from both coaches were broadcast at all times on the television. Guardiola and Mourinho engaged in a verbal war of accusations to each other in front of the media.

For instance, Mourinho complained about referee’s decisions and sued FC Barcelona to the Union of European Football Associations against alleged racial insults coming from a Barça player. Both managers provoked each other during press conferences before the matches. Mourinho also accused FC Barcelona and Guardiola, in particular, to have won a title thanks to inaccurate referee’s decisions.

In the Field

During these tense games, there were countless physical encounters on both sides of the field. Real Madrid was using strong defense tactics in order to restrain the attack of FC Barcelona. One of the pillars of this strategy was Pepe, a very strong and physical defender for Real Madrid. Pepe, who has a known aggressive behavior as a football player, was placed as a midfielder by Mourinho to slow down FC Barcelona’s game. During those games, many Real Madrid players were expelled and sent to the benches. Even Mourinho was punished in one of them after strongly criticizing a referee. All that turmoil even got the media’s attention, where Mourinho said that players from Barcelona were like playing a role in theater .

The first encounter between both teams ended up with a manita or a 5-0 by Barcelona. After that, Mourinho started playing a game behind the field to intimidate the “Culés,” or Barça’s supporters, heavily criticizing the referee’s decisions and the Liga organizers.

In the Benches

The word was, at that time, that the real battle was not only fought at the field but on the benches as well.

Mourinho was caught on camera whispering words in Guardiola’s ear while he was giving instructions to one of his players.

Perhaps the most outrageous taunt of the Portuguese manager was during one of the brawls, where he stuck his finger to Tito Vilanova’s eye (co-manager of FC Barcelona at the time).

Those weeks were about the sport, but also about the controversy that potentially would come out of them. Even for someone that was not into sports, it was impossible not to hear about it.

Making a Difference

Perhaps the Barcelona vs Real Madrid rivalry throughout the decades was a product of making mountains out of molehills. Aside from the controversy in the media and the brawls in the pitch, a magnificent football show between two of the most iconic football teams in the world was forever immortalized on everyone’s mind.

For FC Barcelona, it was not only a matter of establishing a heritage that would prevail in the history of sports, but also to make a name for itself as a payback to the punishment from the dark years of Franco’s regime.

For Real Madrid, it was about preventing FC Barcelona’s objectives and preserving the name of the monarchy and the government.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Difference and Comparison

February 14, 2024 by Chukwuemeka Gabriel Leave a Comment

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are two Spanish football clubs with a history of winning both domestic and international trophies. Barça and Real Madrid are rival football clubs competing in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid, a football game popularly referred to as “El Classico” meaning “The Classic” has been held over 250 times since the establishment of these two Spanish giants.

Both teams have won the Spanish La Liga several times, with Real Madrid winning more titles than Barcelona. Their trophy cabinet is also decorated with European and intercontinental silverware.

Barça and Real Madrid are top European football clubs that have won it all in the game. Some of the best players to play the game have either played for Barcelona or Real Madrid.

Barça and Real Madrid are two rival teams in the world football and every “El Classico” throughout the years has shown what it means to play for the badge of two of Europe’s giants.

FC Barcelona

Futbol Club Barcelona popularly known as Barcelona or Barça is a professional football club that competes in the La Liga. FC Barcelona just as its name implies is based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Futbol Club Barcelona was founded in 1899 by a zealous group of Catalan, German, Swiss, and English footballers. Barcelona is one of the most successful football clubs in Spain and Europe- also one of the most successful in the world.

The supporters of Barcelona own and operate one of the most valuable football clubs in the world. According to Wikipedia, FC Barcelona is the third-most valuable sports team worldwide.

The football club is currently worth $5.51 billion and with an annual turnover of €800.1 million, it’s the world’s fourth-richest football club in terms of revenue.

Futbol Club Barcelona is one of the most successful football clubs in the world, winning over 70 trophies in different competitions. Their trophy cabinet holds a record of 77 trophies- 27 La Liga titles, 31 Copa del Rey, 14 Supercopa de Espana, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Liga titles.

On the international stage, Barcelona has won 22 European and world titles. FC Barcelona currently has 5 UEFA Champions League titles, 4 UEFA Cup Winner’s Cups, 5 UEFA Super Cups, 3 Inter-Cites Fairs Cups, 2 Latin Cups, and 3 FIFA Club World Cups.

Barcelona plays their home games at Estadi Olimpic Lluís Companys in Motjuic. The main home ground, Cam Nou is currently been renovated and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Barcelona will however return to Camp Nou by November 2024, while the stadium is still under construction.

Also Read: Northern Ireland vs Republic of Ireland: Difference and Comparison

Real Madrid FC

Real Madrid, officially known as Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a football club in the city of Madrid competing in the top flight of Spanish football.

Nicknamed the “Los Blancos” meaning “The White) Real Madrid is the most successful football club in La Liga, winning a record 34 titles. They are also the most successful in the UEFA Champions League, with a record 14 titles.

The Spanish football club was established in 1902 as Madrid Football Club. In 1920, King Alfonso XIII bestowed the title “real” which is the Spanish word for “royal” to the football club.

Real Madrid is a football club most players dream of playing for in their career. We have seen the best players ever to play the game wear the royal white of Real Madrid.

Real Madrid is the most valuable football club in the world estimated to be worth $6.1 billion as of 2023. Currently, Real Madrid is the highest-earning football club, with an annual revenue of €831.4 million.

Real Madrid owns one of the biggest stadiums in Europe- the Santiago Bernabéu, with a capacity of over 83,000. Santiago Bernabéu has been the home ground of the football club since 1947.

The iconic Santiago Bernabéu has hosted the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 1964 UEFA European Championships final, the 1957, 1969, 1980, 2010 EuropeanCup/Champions League finals, and several El Classico games (Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona).

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Key Differences between DC Barcelona vs Real Madrid

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are two Spanish football clubs competing in La Liga the top tier of Spanish football. These football teams are rivals just as they are the most successful football clubs in Spain.

FC Barcelona was founded in 1899 by a zealous group of Catalan, German, Swiss, and English footballers, while Real Madrid was founded in 1902. Real Madrid are 14 times UEFA Champions League winners, while FC Barcelona has only won it five times.

Real Madrid is also the most successful football club the Spanish top flight football, with 34 La Liga titles. In contrast, FC Barcelona has only won the La Liga 26 times.

Both teams in recent years decided to renovate their stadium.

Real Madrid recently renovated their home ground to an 85,000+ capacity stadium. The renovation of the stadium also includes increasing the height by ten metres, installing a retractable roof, a retractable pitch and a 360-degree screen.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Comparison Chart

Fc barcelona real madrid: el classico.

El Classico is one of the biggest games in the world of football- it’s the common name of the football game between DC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

El Classico is not just a big game in Spanish, it’s one of the most viewed sporting events in the world. Football fans across Europe and other parts of the world enjoy watching these two Spanish giants battle it out on the field of play.

FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid is known for its intensity and memorable goal celebrations. The fixture has seen both sides play a total of 256 games as of January 2024, with Real Madrid winning 104, and Barcelona winning 100 games.

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FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Head to Head of Domestic and International Titles won by FC Barcelona and Real Madrid

Fc barcelona vs real madrid: comparing fc barcelona and real madrid individual award.

The world has seen some of the best football players to ever play the game in a Barcelona or Real Madrid shirt.

If you are a true football fan, then you should be familiar with the two players who goal record-breaking goals and won the Ballon d’Or a combined 13 times.

We are talking about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Messi and Ronaldo are the highest goal scorers for Barcelona and Real Madrid. They both scored over one thousand goals playing for their respective football clubs.

Looking at the overall individual award for both football clubs, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid players have won the Ballon d’Or 24 times- with Barça players winning 12 and Real Madrid also winning 12.

It’s always a big game when it involves Barcelona playing against Real Madrid. Both football clubs are among the most successful European clubs that have won several continental and intercontinental titles.

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About Chukwuemeka Gabriel

Gabriel Chukwuemeka is a graduate of Physics; he loves Geography and has in-depth knowledge of Astrophysics. Gabriel is an ardent writer who writes for Stay Informed Group and enjoys looking at the world map when he is not writing.

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The story of Real Madrid and the Franco regime

THERE IS A WELL-TOLD TALE, one shrouded in layers of conspiracy and confusion, of the saga that preceded Alfredo Di Stéfano’s transfer to Real Madrid. The details are different depending on who you believe – and possibly who you support – but the basic gist of the story is that General Franco, the ultra-right-wing dictator who ruled Spain with an iron fist from 1936 until 1975, in some way used his influence to sabotage Barcelona’s move for the player and allow the Madrid club to sign him instead.

Di Stéfano was at the time widely regarded as one of the brightest prospects in world football, and both Barcelona and Real Madrid were in hot pursuit of the Argentine. His situation was already somewhat convoluted – despite playing for Colombian club Millonarios, his previous club River Plate claimed that the transfer had breached regulations and that they were still his official owners. So negotiations were always likely to be difficult and protracted, even before Barcelona, the early frontrunners for his signature, made their interest known.

The circumstances which led to the striker eventually signing for Real Madrid, despite initially appearing set for Catalonia (he even played in a pre-season friendly for the  Blaugrana ), are certainly murky and difficult to unravel, but the conspiracy theories all point to Franco’s involvement.

Some of these theories are more believable than others, with perhaps the most sensational suggesting that the man leading Barcelona’s handling of the transfer was in fact on the dictator’s payroll, and botched the negotiations deliberately in order to clear the path for Madrid. A somewhat more credible theory, and one to which many Catalonian football historians subscribe, is that the Francoist authorities capitalised on the impasse between Millonarios and Barcelona, and exerted pressure on the club to pull out of the deal and allow Real Madrid to sign the player instead.

However much truth there is in the story, it is often used by Real Madrid’s detractors – Barcelona chief amongst them – as proof of links between the club and the Franco regime. Real Madrid, it is often claimed, were the dictator’s team and benefited from preferential treatment from the government. There is no shortage of people who would claim that Los Blancos’ success and wealth during that period was in some way owed to their underhand connections with the Generalísimo.

There are various reasons that have led to this becoming an established discourse, and the role of Barcelona in perpetuating the myth should not be underestimated. The story of Real Madrid’s connections to Franco fits with Barcelona’s preferred narrative, which likes to see the club as symbolising the established order and the conservative, centralised Spain whereas they themselves symbolise democracy and an independent Catalonia – the plucky underdogs, who succeeded in spite of intense persecution from the regime.

Without a doubt, clubs like Barcelona and Athletic Club, who represent Catalonia and the Basque Country respectively, suffered during the regime due to their regions’ demands for their dialects, cultures, and individual identities to be officially recognised. Franco’s Spain was based on centralisation and ethnic, cultural and linguistic homogenisation, and anyone that challenged this was essentially suppressed.

It was for this reason that Athletic Club were in 1941 forced to change their name to Atlético Club – Franco had banned the use of any languages other than Castellano , the official Spanish language, and ‘Athletic’ is a Basque word. Los Leones  were also forced to abandon the policy which only allowed Basque-born players to play for the club, an important part of the tradition and heritage of the club.

On Barcelona’s part, there is a story, also steeped in myth, which sums up the way they were perceived and treated by the regime. The story goes that, in 1943, after winning the first leg of a cup semi-final against Real Madrid 3-0, Barcelona’s players were paid a visit by one of Franco’s cronies, who reminded them that they were only allowed to play at all due to “the generosity of the regime”, and suggested in no uncertain terms that they ease off in the second leg.

Real Madrid went on to win that game 11-1, by far the biggest win in Clásico history. Again, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which the story has been embellished, but it is hard to believe that such a scoreline could have come about entirely naturally. Aside from this, Barcelona were also – like Bilbao – forced to change their name and were ordered to remove the Catalan flag from their crest.

Against this backdrop of persecution for regional teams, Real Madrid’s treatment might well have appeared preferential. In comparison to troublesome teams like Barcelona and Bilbao, who implicitly rejected the regime, and whom Franco saw as a threat to Spanish national identity, Los Blancos symbolised the power of centralisation and of traditional Spanish language and culture.

By its very nature, a centralising regime is built on the power of its capital, and the Franco regime was centred, politically and economically, around Madrid. For this reason, Real Madrid, as the most successful team in the city, and the most prestigious team of entirely Castilian identity, was always likely to be the preferred team of the dictator.

It was for this reason that the Generalísimo paid regular visits to watch the side in the 1950s and ’60s, especially during their most successful period when, inspired by the majestic Di Stéfano, they won five consecutive European Cups between 1956 and 1960.

However, the suggestion that their success was in some way owed to the regime is almost certainly exaggerated. The common assumption is that Real Madrid were great because Franco supported them, but it would be more accurate to say that Franco supported them because they were great. Real Madrid symbolised everything that Franco stood for – the power of a centralised Spain, the power of Madrid, and the strength of traditional Castilian values.

Real Madrid were a diplomatic and political tool for the dictator, in more ways than one. Firstly, the club’s success, particularly on the European platform, presented an idea of Spain that was far removed from the general perception of the country that was prevalent on the continent. Franco’s regime, although primarily inward-looking, was hugely concerned with the way it was perceived by the rest of Europe, and Real Madrid were the perfect PR tool, projecting an idea of a wealthy, happy and united Spain that was at odds with the reality.

Secondly, his association with and apparent backing of Real Madrid could be used implicitly by Franco as a criticism of Catalonia and the Basque Country, who used football as a way of expressing their cultural and linguistic identities and their dissatisfaction with the regime. Barcelona and Real Madrid, even then, were by far the most successful teams in Spain and any endorsement of Real Madrid, as Franco well knew, was also a rejection of Barcelona, and conversely of Catalonia, whose separatist movement was by far the biggest threat to Spanish national unity in the dictator’s eyes.

Ironically, although Franco’s support of Barcelona was originally used to some extent to demean and diminish Barcelona, the  Blaugrana now use it to mock and goad their Madrid rivals. It is the ultimate expression of the dichotomy that Barcelona’s fans like to stress: the wealthy, conservative right-wing Real Madrid against the progressive, liberal, left-wing Barcelona.

The Franco regime has such toxic connotations in modern democratic Spain that any suggestion of association or, even worse, cooperation with it is a scathing indictment. So it pays for fans of other teams, particularly Barcelona, to peddle and exaggerate the myth. Furthermore, Real Madrid, like Manchester United in England, are the team that fans of other clubs love to hate, and the supposed connections with Franco are a convenient way of explaining away the club’s unrivalled success – as well as being another reason to place themselves in opposition to them.

The myth of the connection between Real Madrid and the Franco regime is without doubt exaggerated. That’s not to say there’s no truth in it – Franco did to some extent align himself with the club – but it would be a huge step to suggest that their success is in some way owed to this connection.

Going back to the story of Di Stéfano, the regime may have had some small part to play in the events which led to the striker choosing the Bernabéu over the Camp Nou, but it is highly unlikely that their involvement was a major factor – after all, the government had more important things to be doing than concerning itself with football transfer dealings.

Ultimately, the story can be seen more than anything as just another expression of the bitter, political rivalry that has always existed between Barcelona and Real Madrid – one which transcends football and which thrives on stories like these to embellish its rich tapestry.

By Nick Fitzgerald

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• Artem Dovbyk ( 4' )
• Portu ( 65', 75' )
• Miguel Gutiérrez ( 67' )
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Real Madrid secure LaLiga title after Girona thrash Barcelona 4-2

Moreno slams barcelona's fragility after gifting madrid laliga title.

Alejandro Moreno reacts to Girona's comeback win against Barcelona in LaLiga.

Real Madrid claimed a record-extending 36th LaLiga title on Saturday after Girona fought-back to beat Barcelona 4-2, a result that left Carlo Ancelotti's side with an unassailable lead in the standings.

Madrid, who have lost only once in the league this season, hold a 13-point advantage over second-placed Girona while Barcelona dropped to third with four matches remaining.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The win also secured Girona a spot in Europe for the first time after they qualified for next season's Champions League.

A brace from substitute Portu helped surprise package Girona to humble their Catalan rivals.

Andreas Christensen scored in the third minute to give Barça the lead while Girona hit back a minute later with LaLiga top-scorer Artem Dovbyk heading in the equaliser.

Robert Lewandowski put the visitors back in front from the penalty spot just before the break.

However, in the 65th minute, in his first action after coming off the bench, Portu netted the equaliser and Miguel Gutierrez scored from a rebound two minutes later to give Girona the lead. A stunning volley from Portu in the 74th minute secured the win.

"It's incredible to look at your shirt and experience this. There is nothing more beautiful than living this," an emotional Portu told DAZN with tears rolling down his face.

"I had a thorn in my side with this club. A few years ago, I experienced the other side, which was relegation and I felt very responsible because I played a lot. Today I made amends with the fans and I can smile again."

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Laliga news, live transfer talk: barcelona aiming to sign nico williams, mallorca back to winning ways with victory over la palmas, psg boss luis enrique on mbappé exit: 'we'll get even better'.

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Real Madrid wins its record-extending 36th Spanish league title after Barcelona loses at Girona

Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid supporters celebrate in Cibeles Square in Madrid after their team clinched the La Liga title, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Real, who had won earlier in the day, clinched the title after Barcelona failed to beat Girona. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, left, celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz, right, celebrates with his teammate Real Madrid’s Luka Modric after scoring his side’s opening goal during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saves a ball during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, second left, scores his side’s second goal during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s supporters cheer their team during the the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois warms up ahead the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Barcelona’s Jules Kounde reacts during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Girona and Barcelona, at the Montilivi stadium in Girona, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Girona’s Miguel Gutierrez celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Girona and Barcelona, at the Montilivi stadium in Girona, Spain, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Real Madrid supporters start to arrive in Cibeles Square in Madrid to celebrate after their team clinched the La Liga title, Saturday, May 4, 2024. Real, who had won earlier in the day, clinched the title after Barcelona failed to beat Girona. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Real Madrid put its Spanish rivals out of their misery by clinching the league title on Saturday with four games remaining, just in time to turn its full focus to its Champions League semifinal with Bayern Munich.

Madrid did the expected and beat relegation-threatened Cadiz 3-0 even though it was mostly with bench players. Barcelona then lost 4-2 at Girona with a collapse that coach Xavi Hernández admitted was typical of his team’s trophyless season.

That combination of results secured Madrid its record-extending 36th Spanish league title with Girona, which leapfrogged Barcelona into second place, facing an insurmountable 13-point deficit with only a maximum 12 points left in play.

Only a victory by Barcelona at Girona would have stopped Madrid from celebrating the title on Saturday.

Madrid now has a chance to add to its unequaled 14 European Cups. Madrid hosts Bayern on Wednesday with their Champions League semifinal evenly balanced after a 2-2 first-leg draw in Germany. Either Paris Saint-Germain or Borussia Dortmund will await the winner in the June 1 final.

The club said that it will hold off on the traditional celebration of titles in downtown Madrid until next Saturday with its important game against Bayern coming first.

“We deserved this league title in every way,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said after guiding his team to the second league title and 12th trophy overall in his two stints with Madrid.

“We would like to celebrate with all the fans, but they understand because on Wednesday we have a very important challenge. We want to prepare well to make the fans happy and we will celebrate the title together on Saturday.”

At the start of the season, Madrid appeared set to again play chaser to defending champion Barcelona after Karim Benzema left in the summer and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and defenders David Alaba and Eder Militao sustained serious leg injuries.

But Jude Bellingham blossomed into a scorer on arrival from Borussia Dortmund. His goals, and leadership in midfield, combined with the dribbling, speed and goals of Vinícius Júnior. put Madrid well ahead of the rest.

Madrid has only lost once in 34 rounds so far, beat Barcelona in both league “clasico” matches, and dealt Girona a pair of lopsided losses in their two meetings.

BACKUPS SHINE

Ancelotti overhauled his lineup ahead of the decider against Bayern. Center back Nacho Fernández was the only starter from the first leg against Bayern to begin against Cadiz.

Brahim Díaz broke through Cadiz’s defense in the 51st minute at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday when the forward rifled a shot from the edge of the box into the top corner.

Season standout Bellingham tapped in a second goal in the 68th, moments after going on as a substitute to put the result beyond doubt with his 18th league goal of the campaign. Joselu Mato added a third in injury time.

GIRONA IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Xavi’s team suffered the double blow of watching Madrid claim the title because of its loss while at the same time falling behind Girona in a second big loss in the Catalan derby this season. Girona pushed Barcelona into third place at 14 points behind Madrid.

Girona locked up a top-four finish and Champions League berth after opening a 13-point gap over Athletic Bilbao in fifth.

Girona is now on track to create an issue for UEFA which has rules designed to protect the Champions League from having two or more clubs in the same ownership group. Girona and Manchester City are both part of City Football Group backed by the Abu Dhabi royal family.

Girona can also deprive Barcelona of a lucrative spot in the Spanish Super Cup if it holds onto second place.

“We had the game under control and then gave it away, and that is a summary of our season,” Xavi said. “The same thing happened in the two games against Madrid and in the other game against Girona, and it is very tough to compete like that. We have to change many things if we want to compete next season.”

Substitute Cristian “Portu” Portugués flipped the game around for Girona. Trailing 2-1 when Portu went on in the 65th, he scored on his first touch. He then assisted Miguel Gutiérrez two minutes later before he curled in a second goal to complete a brace in the 74th.

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal had set up Andreas Christensen in the third minute, only for Artem Dovbyk to head in his league-leading 20th goal seconds later for Girona. Yamal also earned a penalty that Robert Lewandowski converted just before halftime.

COURTOIS RETURNS

Courtois was back in goal for his first appearance of the season since suffering two leg injuries. The 31-year-old Belgian tore the ACL in his left knee in August, two days before Madrid’s first game of the season. He then ruptured the meniscus in his right knee in March when he was preparing to come back.

Courtois had little work except for moments before Díaz’s opener when he snuffed out a breakaway by Cadiz striker Chris Ramos.

Ancelotti said Friday that Andriy Lunin, the backup who has excelled in Courtois’ place, will be back in goal for the second leg against Bayern.

Also, Atletico Madrid won 1-0 at Mallorca thanks to an early goal by Rodrigo Riquelme to keep its grip on fourth place.

Real Sociedad beat Las Palmas 2-0 to strengthen its hold on sixth place and a Europa League spot.

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid: Franck Kessie scores dramatic late winner as Barca win El Clasico

Match report as Barcelona extend their lead at the top of LaLiga by coming from behind to beat Real Madrid; a Ronald Araujo own goal put Real Madrid in front with Sergi Roberto pulling one back before a dramatic stoppage-time winner from Franck Kessie

Monday 20 March 2023 08:42, UK

Barcelona took a major step towards winning their first LaLiga title since 2019 after coming from behind to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in El Clasico.

Franck Kessie scored in stoppage time to secure Barcelona victory and a 12-point lead over second-placed Real with 12 matches to go.

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Barcelona's players huddled and celebrated on the field after the final whistle at Camp Nou.

The Catalan club was saved by the VAR for the second consecutive game, as Marco Asensio's effort was ruled out in the 81st minute for offside.

Last week, they edged Athletic Bilbao when an 87th-minute equaliser by Athletic forward Inaki Williams was disallowed by video review.

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Barcelona were in control for much of the match against Real, creating most of the significant chances.

🤜 LET'S GO TEAM! 🤛 #ElClásico pic.twitter.com/k10LLWD7iP — Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) March 19, 2023

But the visitors opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a fortunate own-goal by Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo, who redirected the ball into the net with a header after a cross by Madrid forward Vinicius Junior from the left side of the area.

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Sergi Roberto equalised after picking up a loose ball inside the area in the 45th minute, and Kessie netted the winner from the middle of the box after a late breakaway as Real made a final push for the victory.

No words needed. #ElClásico pic.twitter.com/0Lbavkd9Nq — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 19, 2023

It was the second match between the rivals in less than three weeks. Barcelona won 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on March 3 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. The return leg at Camp Nou is on April 5.

🔵🔴 🤝 ⚪🟣 #ElClásico pic.twitter.com/UQKBFnscqf — Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) March 19, 2023

What's next?

Barcelona's next match sees them travel to Elche in La Liga on the evening of April 1.

Real Madrid play the following day, hosting Real Valladolid in a league encounter.

Another Saturday, another chance to win £250,000 with Super 6. Play for free, entries by 3pm.

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Real Madrid stun Bayern with late fightback to reach Champions League final

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• Joselu double rescues Real
• Neuer fumbles for equaliser
• Bayern fume at offside decision in stoppage time

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Reporting by Fernando Kallas Editing by Toby Davis

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Thomson Reuters

Fernando is a Brazilian national who joined Reuters in 2021 after spending a decade in Madrid working for some of the world’s biggest sports media. As a multi-media journalist, he has covered everything from Olympics, World Cups and Champions League finals to Super Bowls and UFC fights for over 20 years. He is a sports commentator and analyst for DAZN, for Brazilian television group Globo and for Spain’s Radio Marca, as well as a regular guest in sports programs in Spanish, English and Portuguese. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Madrid Autonomous University (UAM) and EL PAIS.

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Pogacar reigns supreme on final climb to win stage eight

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Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich 2-1 (4-3): Champions League – as it happened

All our updates as Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate to reach the Champions League final.

This page is now closed. Thanks for joining us. These were the updates as Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate to reach the Champions League final on Wednesday, May 8:

• Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in their Champions League semifinal second-leg tie.
• The Spaniards progress 4-3 on aggregate.
• Alphonso Davies gave the Germans the lead, but a Joselu double in the final minutes turned the tie.
• Madrid claimed the Spanish domestic title this season, but Bayern failed to defend their German crown.
• Borussia Dortmund sealed their place in the final on Tuesday at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain.
• Live updates
• Match stats

Goodbye for now

That’s it from our live coverage of the Champions League semifinals.

Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate with two late Joselu goals turning the game after Alphonso Davies’s opener at the Bernabeu.

Borussia Dortmund await the Spaniards in the final after they beat Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday .

We’ll be back for more live coverage on Friday with the final Paris 2024 Olympic football place up for grabs. It’s Indonesia against Guinea, and you can catch the game, along with all our sports news and features, here .

Kickoff is at 13:00 GMT.

For now, though – from me, Kevin Hand – it’s goodbye

THIS. IS. REAL. MADRID. CLUB. DE. FÚTBOL. pic.twitter.com/Kd0aGXP8OW — Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 8, 2024

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel fumes about late offside

“To raise the flag in a decision like this in a last minute, then for the referee to blow the whistle when we win the ball and then get the shot away, is a very, very bad decision,” Tuchel told TNT Sports when speaking about the incident in the 14th minute of injury time.

“It’s against the rules. The linesman has apologised.

“We were almost through and almost there, and a very unusual mistake from our very best player [Neuer] for the equaliser. They score again, then we score one – but a disastrous decision by the officials.

“We gave everything, and we did it together. Then to concede a goal we will never concede again with our goalkeeper is unbelievable. We left everything on the pitch, and that is a good thing. This is sport in the end.”

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti reflects on a remarkable win

“We played well. We had the opportunities and good control of the game. We had the strength to come back when they scored,” he told TNT Sports.

“We did it again here. With our supporters, we can do something that’s unexpected.

“Joselu did a fantastic job. He’s a fantastic striker. We put in a lot of crosses, and we had a lot of energy at the end of the game.

“I’m really grateful to them. They are really humble and really generous. I think it’s the best squad of my career.

“Now, until the final, we have fantastic days to celebrate the league with the fans.”

More to come from our live coverage

On Thursday, we’ll bring you the final playoff for a place at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Indonesia and Guinea will face each other in Paris with the winner taking the last place for the U23 tournament.

We’ll have all the build-up and text commentary of the 13:00 GMT kickoff.

Japan, Uzbekistan and Iraq have already secured a place in the Olympics with their medal finishes at the AFC U23 Asian Cup .

FT | 🇯🇵 Japan 1️⃣-0️⃣ Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 Absolute drama. There’s nothing quite like a last-minute winner as Japan are crowned the 2024 #AFCU23 champions! #JPNvUZB pic.twitter.com/ctMbrtG7Vn — #AsianCup2023 (@afcasiancup) May 3, 2024

Dortmund are waiting for Madrid

🇪🇸 See you at Wembley, @realmadrid ! pic.twitter.com/9aGBu2WyMr — Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) May 8, 2024

Vinicius Junior named Player of the Match

The Brazilian picks up yet another Player of the Match award for his tireless display.

What a performance 🌟 #UCL pic.twitter.com/Rbsy2rtttZ — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 8, 2024

The Champions League final

So it will be Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid who will compete for the Champions League crown.

The final will be played at Wembley Stadium in London on June 1.

And, of course, we’ll bring you all the action from that one, as well.

The 2023/24 #UCLfinal ... Dortmund 🆚 Real Madrid pic.twitter.com/IdSewiXdIn — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 8, 2024

Real Madrid dominated Bayern Munich in all the stats

Madrid had 58 percent of the possession with 19 shots and seven on target.

Bayern had eight shots with five on target.

Joselu sends Real Madrid to Wembley! 👏 #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/oTZ5lDpvbI — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 8, 2024

‘There’s nowhere I’d rather be’

“I was looking around in the dressing room and couldn’t believe it. There’s nowhere I’d rather be,” Bellingham continued on TNT Sports.

“The players and fans feel like family. We know the expectations when you sign on the dotted line here.”

Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham reacts to the win

“We’ve seen it a lot of times this season where it looks like we are dead and buried, but we’ve seen it many times with our never-say-die attitude,” Bellingham told TNT Sports.

“There’s a reason why we manage to come back here, and it’s because of them [the fans].

“I love being here because you can never be settled. They don’t give you the chance, and that’s the best thing in football.

“At Wembley against Dortmund. I can’t believe it. I’m so looking forward to it.”

It’s Manchester United in 1999 all over again for Bayern Munich

The Germans were seconds away from the final, but by the end of injury time, they were out.

Just like in Barcelona in 1999, when Manchester United came from 1-0 down in stoppage time to win it in normal time, Bayern snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Total heartbreak at the last for Munich.

Full-time: Real Madrid dump Bayern Munich out at the last

Real Madrid are on to the final of the Champions League. Bayern can’t create another chance, and it’s all over.

Full-time: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

Unbelievable 🤯 #UCL pic.twitter.com/q2MVWF3nLu — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 8, 2024

Chaos ensues in the technical area

Tuchel could be sent off here.

The offside flag goes up as Bayern play the ball into the box. The Germans believe the play should have continued through to the end, and then the flag should have been raised.

The ball ended up in the net but the whistle had blown before the ball was turned in.

90+14 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

Bayern have one last chance

They’re on the attack. This has to be it.

90+13 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

The kick is wasted

The ball soars from one half into the hands of the keeper.

Was that the final chance?

90+11 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

Bayern have to pump it forward

They haven’t created anything since the Real goal.

Here’s a late free kick on the halfway line.

90+10 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

Bellingham comes off

Militao comes on to replace the midfielder, who was down on his knees a moment ago.

Bayern are flat while Tuchel is booked

The Germans can’t build an attack. Can they find one moment, at least?

Their manager is booked for dissent as his side aren’t awarded a free kick he believed they should have been.

90+7 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

Two goals in three minutes and Bayern are in the dumps

Bayern have taken off Kane, but what do they have left in the tank?

A Real player is down with a cramp. The Spaniards will slow this down as best as they possibly can now.

90+4 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

GOAL! Madrid are in front as VAR overrules the ref’s assistant

Madrid have surely won it. Joselu was onside when the ball was squared from the left to tap home.

We’ve already entered nine minutes of stoppage time.

90+2 minutes: Real Madrid 2-1 Bayern Munich (4-3)

JOSELU 🤯 #UCL pic.twitter.com/4lAZjWTtVl — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 8, 2024

VAR check for a Madrid winner

Joselu taps home but the flag is up.

VAR want to check it though.

What drama!

90+1 minutes: Real Madrid 1-1 Bayern Munich (3-3)

Dier denies Madrid the winner

The home side are all over Bayern now and Dier throws himself in front of shot from close range. It’s a corner.

90 minutes: Real Madrid 1-1 Bayern Munich (3-3)

GOAL! Neuer drops the ball and Madrid level late on

Vinicius Junior fires in a tame effort from range and Neuer drops the ball!

Joselu is on the keeper in a flash and taps home. What have we just seen from one of the best keeper’s in the world?

88 minutes: Real Madrid 1-1 Bayern Munich (3-3)

Bayern bring on the changes

Choupo-Moting replaces Kane, while Muller replaces Musiala.

85 minutes: Real Madrid 0-1 Bayern Munich (2-3)

Vinicius Junior misses a big chance for Madrid

The ball is bent in behind the Bayern defence with a ball from the deep.

Vinicius Junior creeps in at the far post but hits a first time shot wide. He should have hit the target.

84 minutes: Real Madrid 0-1 Bayern Munich (2-3)

Real Madrid vs Barcelona - Highlights

Watch the highlights from the LaLiga 2023-24 match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Show more

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