Like two adversaries locked in an eternal battle, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid hate but need each other. From the first time the pair came face-to-face on a football pitch - an episode which occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, on May 13, 1902 - there has existed an animosity between them and their faithful - hostility that has been heightened by the differences in political identities, transfer battles, and extreme ideologies over more than a century. (Streaming | Full Coverage)
Yet, the two shared a bench during the European Super League fiasco and remain, along with Juventus, its most ardent supporters. Hatred persists between them, but their relationship is far more complex than what meets the eye.
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A Barcelona win on May 13, 1902, kicked off the rivalry, which only gained steam midway through the 1900s during the reign of Francisco Franco. It is said that amidst the dictatorships that fractured the Spanish mainland, regional languages and identities were discouraged. Barcelona, in this period, became the face of the Catalan identity, opposed to the Franco regime from the pristine palaces of central Madrid.
The rivalry between the pair deepened further in the early 1950s, when Real Madrid stole Alfredo Di Stefano from under Barcelona's noses, despite the player having reached an agreement with the Catalans. Di Stefano’s arrival coincided with an era of dominance, during which Real Madrid won several domestic and continental titles.
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Fast-forwarding to the modern day, the hostility between Barcelona and Real Madrid advanced due to the glaring discrepancies in their ideologies. Barcelona - especially under Pep Guardiola - prided themselves on playing an attractive brand of football with home-grown stars, while Real Madrid regularly splurged in the transfer market to lay claim to the best in the world, a notion best defined by the duopoly of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for almost a decade in this fixture.
Barcelona Vs Real Madrid, El Clasico, Head-to-Head and Recent Results:
Across history, Real Madrid and Barcelona have played 254 competitive games, with the capital side winning 102 compared to their counterparts’ 100; 52 have ended in a draw. The pair have regularly exchanged the league title between themselves and have not finished below third in La Liga since 2004.
The previous La Liga fixture between Barcelona and Real Madrid, played on March 19, 2023, finished 2-1 in favour of the former, courtesy of a late strike from Franck Kessie. Less than a month later, however, Real Madrid dispatched their fierce rivals 4-0 in the Copa del Rey.
Over the last five fixtures, Barcelona lead Real Madrid with three wins to their two.
