A football match is World War in 90minutes. No other game typifies this than the El Clásico. The El Clásico; a game for glory, fought in sweat, mud, and sometimes blood! The prize? Bragging rights in Spain. The competitors? Age-long rivals, Barcelona and Real Madrid.It is one of the biggest matches in club football with over hundreds of millions of estimated viewers across the globe. With a combined 58 La Liga, 18 Champions League, 49 Copa del Rey, 9 European Super cups and 6 Club World Cup titles between the two sides, it goes to say that the match sees two of the biggest heavyweights slug it out for battle of supremacy.
Pre-civil war history.
Ironically, its first installment in 1902 was a friendly match and it is not usually referred to as an "el clásico" given it was played some 27 years before the commencement of the La Liga championship in 1929. Not many outside Spain understands the depth of the rivalry between the two sides. On paper, it is seen as a clash between two European stalwarts but for the locals and their fan, it transcends beyond sport, it is essentially a clash of cities; Castillans against Catalans, ideas, nationality, culture and politics. It is the battle of all battles.
Real Madrid; founded by Spaniards in 1902 some three years after Barcelona was formed by Goan Gamper in 1899, was always viewed as the hub and political seat of Spain not least because it was located in the centre of Spain geographically. Therefore regional rivalries were generated as a result of the nation's focus on Madrid. Footballing rivalry would start officially after the creation of the Spanish Primera Division in 1929. Although Barçelona won the inaugural edition of the league while Real Madrid won back-to-back back titles in 1931/32 and 1932/33 seasons, it was Bilbao that was the strongest force, with four titles, in the years before the Spanish Civil war which began in 1936 and ended in 1939, the war that enforced a three year break in the Spanish Primera Division.
Prior to the war Barcelona had as early as the 1930s, "developed a reputation as a symbol of Catalan identity, opposed to the centralising tendencies of Madrid" thus it was no surprise that in 1936, when Francisco Franco started the Coup d'état against the democratic Second Spanish Republic, then president of Barcelona, Josep Sunyol, member of the Republican Left of Catalonia and Deputy to The Cortes was arrested and executed without trial by Franco's troops (Sunyol was exercising his political activities, visiting Republican troops north of Madrid). This presumably wouldn't have sat well with the Catalans.
The execution of Josep Sunyol in addition to the banning of all (Catalan) languages, save Castillan (Spanish), and the removal of the Catalan flag, the prohibition from using non-Spanish names which eventually led Barça to change its name to "Club de Fútbol Barcelona" were political reasons that unsurprisingly set the Catalans against the Castillan during the Franco era due to perceived favoritism towards the Castillans.
Post-civil war hostilities ; Copa del generalsimo.
One of the biggest controversial games came in the semi-final match in the Copa del generalsimo (Copa del Rey, but renamed to celebrate the Franco regime). The Catalans had won 3-0 at home but in a pure display of politics, it was rumored they were advised heading to the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu how displeased General Franco would be if Real's honour was not kept. Barça fans were not allowed to go for the game and the home fans threw objects at the Barça players. Real were 2-0 after 30 minutes, scored 6 before half time and ended up 11-1 winners. Although the match is not particularly celebrated in Madrid according to reports as Sid Lowe, a football writer opined, "There have been relatively few mentions of the game [sic] it is not a result that has been particularly celebrated in Madrid. Indeed, the 11–1 occupies a far more prominent place in Barcelona's history. This was the game that first formed the identification of Madrid as the team of the dictatorship and Barcelona as its victims."
The political hostility subsided following the death of Franco in 1975.
DiStéfano and Luís Figo wranglings.
Few things stoke up the flames of rivalry as much as a transfer hassle between two football rivals.The first exhibition of this was the transfer of the legendary Argentine, Alfredo Di Stéfano to Real Madrid, in what could be billed as the first biggest transfer controversy involving both clubs. Alfredo Di Stefano was at the time playing for Los Millonarios in Bogotá, Columbia following a players' strike in his country, Argentina. However due to confusion that arose from his transfer while moving from River Plate to Millonarios following the strike, there was uncertainty as to who amongst the Spanish giants had actually signed him as both clubs claimed to own his registration.
Although FIFA did declare that both clubs share the player in alternate seasons, Barcelona's interim board felt insulted and decided to cancel Di Stéfano's contract altogether aftermath of the resignation of the president because of the issue. Thus allowing Di Stéfano to move permanently to Real Madrid where he went on to become a legend and was at the forefront of Real's dominance locally and internationally in the 1950s and 1960s. To make matters worse he scored a brace on his debut el clásico, a pair amongst the 18 he scored in total in this historical fixture.
Figo's 'treachery'.
Luís Figo had endeared himself to the Barçelona faithful with his sublime skills and goals following his move from Sporting CP in 1995. He had won the La Liga, Copa del Rey and the UEFA Super cup, amongst other tittles in 5 successful years.
But all that was swiftly forgotten when rumors first emerged that he had signed a pre-contract agreement with then Madrid presidential candidate, Florentino Perez, who was bidding to win his second election. In the deal Figo would get €1 million if Perez lost the election, while he would join Real if Perez won but would be forced to pay a €30 million fine should he refuse. Given Perez was widely seen as a long shot to win over then Real's incumbent, Lorenzo Sanz, the money appeared like "free money" and his agent agreed to it.
However, when reports of the deal leaked to the media, it drew an immediate response from the player and in an interview with Catalan newspaper Sport on July 9, 2000 he said, "I want to reassure fans that Luis Figo, with all the certainty in the world, will be at the Camp Nou on July 24 to start the season," in a bid to restore calm to the nerves of the nervy Catalan fans. He even told team mates ; Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola, he was going to stay. But the unthinkable happened, Perez won, his release clause,€62million was triggered (a then world record), Figo faced with the possibility of paying an hefty fine, reportedly pleaded with newly re-elected Barça president, Joan Gaspart, to pay the fine to keep him, but he refused and on 24 July 2000, Figo was unveiled as a Real Madrid player. His acrimonious exit set the tone for the terse, vitrolic and toxic atmosphere in the next clásicos. Such was the hugeness of the animosity he received that on his first return to the Camp Nou stadium on 21 October 2000, the whole stadium could be heard whistling him and even he had to block his ears as he took to the field from the tunnel. Banners of "Judas", "scum" and "mercenary" were also unfurled at the stadium. Objects; oranges, lighters etc.. were accompanied with insults that was aimed towards him each time he had the ball.
The 'derby of shame'.
On November 23 2002, 2 years after Figo's depature, the circus surrounding his departure was still as fresh as ever. And even though the match itself was a bore goalless draw, there were plenty of drama on pitch as Figo continued to receive hostile reception in his second game at the Camp Nou. One of such receptions led to the head of a pig, a cochinillo, being tossed to the field. The match was labelled "Bronx Nouc" by Spanish paper AS, while Marca labelled it the "derby of shame". Such remains the ill feeling towards Figo in Catalonia that Barçelona forced UEFA to remove him from a legends match comprising of former players before their 2015 Champions League final with Juventus. Never has one player's defection caused such a long-standing animosity.
Evidently, as history buttresses, the fierce competition between these two Spanish giants has been fuelled by politics, transfer wranglings, cultural as well as regional supremacy, all of which have added more bite to their fight for sporting supremacy both home and abroad. With such rich history the match remains the biggest club rivalry and unique due to its political affiliation. Although hostility has reduced in recent years not least because of civilization, diplomacy and democracy, but it still remains one of the most anticipated match in the European club calender.
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