El Clásico (English: The Classic, Catalan: El Clàssic), also known as El derbi Español, is the name given in football to a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is contested twice a year in the Spanish La Liga competition, and more often if the clubs meet in other competitions. Other than the UEFA Champions League Final, it is the most followed club football match in the world, watched by hundreds of millions of people.
The rivalry comes about as Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and the two clubs are the richest, most successful and influential football clubs in the world. FC Barcelona have 72 trophies, Real Madrid 74 - Athletic Bilbao comes third with 32 trophies. These are the only three clubs in La Liga to have never lost top-flight status. They are sometimes identified with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid viewed as representing Spanish nationalism, and Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan nationalism. The Rivalry is argued by many to be the biggest in world football.
The Barcelona and Real Madrid clubs have long been politically charged, and elections to Barcelona FC presidency are still strongly politicized. As early as the 1930s, Barcelona "had developed a reputation as a symbol of Catalan pride and identity, opposed to the centralising tendencies of Madrid". In 1936, when Francisco Franco started the golpe against the democratic Second Spanish Republic, the president of Barcelona FC Josep Sunyol was arrested and executed by Franco's security police (Sunyol was exercising his political activities, visiting Republican troops north of Madrid). The Barcelona FC was on top of the list of organizations to be purged by Franco's troops, just after Communists, Anarchists and Separatists.
During the Franco dictatorship, most citizens of Barcelona were in strong opposition to the fascist-like régime. Phil Ball, the author of Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football, calls the El Clásico "a re-enactment of the Spanish Civil War". A similar analogy was made by American author Robert Coover, which described the 1977 match between the "archrivals" Barcelona FC and Real Club Deportivo Español as "more like a reenactment of the Spanish Civil War than a mere athletic event."
Though the first socialist party in Spain was founded in Madrid, almost all the ideas that have shaped the country's modern history – republicanism, federalism, anarchism, syndicalism and communism – have been introduced via the region of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital. During the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera and of Francisco Franco, all regional languages and identities were frowned upon and restrained. In this period FC Barcelona gained their motto més que un club (English: More than a club) because of its alleged connection to progressive beliefs and its representative role for Catalonia. However, during Franco's regime, the blaugrana team seemed to be granted profit due to its good relationship with the dictator at management level.
The links between senior Real Madrid representatives and the Franquist regime were undeniable;for most of the Catalans, and many other Spaniards as well, Real Madrid was regarded as the establishment club, in spite of the fact that during the Spanish Civil War, presidents of both clubs like Josep Sunyol and Rafael Sánchez Guerra, suffered in the Spanish Civil War. This image was further negatively affected by the creation, in 1980, of the fascist-leaning Real Madrid hooligan group'.
According to a poll released by CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas), Real Madrid's followers tend to adopt right-wing views, while the Barcelona fans are politically closer associated with the left-wing.
Di Stéfano transfer
The rivalry was intensified during the 1950s when the clubs disputed the signing of Alfredo di Stéfano. Di Stéfano had impressed both Barcelona and Real Madrid whilst playing for Club Deportivo Los Millonarios in Bogota, during a players' strike in his native Argentina. Both Madrid and Barcelona attempted to sign him and, due to confusion that emerged from di Stéfano moving to Millonarios from River Plate following the strike, both clubs claimed to own his registration. After intervention from FIFA representative Muñoz Calero it was decided that both Barcelona and Real Madrid had to share the player in alternate seasons. Barcelona's Franco-imposed President backed down after a few appearances, as Barcelona's side claimed, but Real say Barcelona's decision was voluntary and di Stefano moved definitively to Madrid.
Di Stéfano became integral in the subsequent success achieved by Madrid, scoring twice in his first game against Barcelona. With him, Madrid won the initial five European Champions Cup competitions. The 1960s saw the rivalry reach the European stage when they met twice at the European Cup, Real Madrid winning in 1960 and FC Barcelona winning in 1961.
The two teams met again in the UEFA Champions League semi-final in 2002, with Real Madrid winning 0-2 in Barcelona and a 1-1 draw in Madrid. The match, dubbed by Spanish media as the Match of the Century, was watched by more than 500 million people. In the Clásico held on November 2005, Barcelona played away in Madrid, winning 3-0. The star of the Barcelona team was Ronaldinho, who became the second Barcelona player after Diego Maradona to receive a standing ovation from Real Madrid fans.
The rivalry has been strengthened throughout time by the internal transfer of players between the clubs. Barcelona players who have later played for Real Madrid include Bernd Schuster, who switched in 1988, Michael Laudrup went to Real Madrid on a free transfer in 1994, but the most notorious was former vice-captain Luís Figo's switch in 2000. Players transferring from Real Madrid to Barcelona are less frequent, the most recent being Luis Enrique, who went to Barcelona in 1996 where he went on to captain the Blaugrana, and he coached the reserve team in seassons 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11.
A 2007 survey by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas determined that Real Madrid was the team with the largest following in Spain. Thirty-two percent of the Spanish population supported Real Madrid, while twenty-five percent supported Barcelona. In third place came Valencia CF, who were supported by five percent. Barcelona in turn is more popular in Europe than Madrid. According to a survey made by the German research agency Sport+Markt in 2010, Barcelona has approximately 57.8 million fans around Europe, while Real Madrid has 31.3 million fans. Globally, Real Madrid is the most popular football club in the world according to a study performed by Harvard University in 2007, with over 228 million supporters worldwide.
The rivalry intensified in 2011 where due to the final of the Copa Del Rey and the meeting of the two in the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona and Real Madrid were scheduled to meet each other four times in 18 days. Several accusations of unsportsmanlike behaviour from both teams and a war of words erupted throughout the fixtures which included four red cards. Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque stated that he was "concerned" that due to the rising hatred between the two clubs, that this could cause friction in the national side.
source:kasapahene research team
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