El Clasico - A glamorous competition of prestige and superiority

Not only the Spanish, but also the football fans all over the world are eagerly waiting for tuning in to see or hear the massive event on Tuesday, 29th November. Yes, I’m talking about the forthcoming El Clásico between the two giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. For the football lovers, El Clásico is supposed to be one of the greatest shows on earth as well as one of the most anticipated football games in the world football calendar.

Real Madrid and Barcelona- both are the two largest cities in Spain and these two are the most dominant and influential football clubs in Spain. The rivalry between these two clubs is more than just a football competition. From the start, the clubs were seen as representatives of two antagonist identities in Spain, Catalan (Barcelona) and Spanish (Real Madrid). The enmity missions are regarded as the political and other tensions felt between Catalans and the Spanish. So this has become a prestigious issue of its highest degree for the players of both clubs to achieve the victory somehow for their own clubs and for their millions of supporters.

I think the best way to term this competition as a show of ‘Pride & Passion’. The gigantic occasion of their matches can be held two times a year and there’s a possibility of their encounter 9 times a year as they are to play two legs in the La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España; along with another option in the UEFA Super Cup.

Having started from 1929, these two clubs have already approached 208 matches. The head-to-head result shows that Real Madrid won 85 matches where Barcelona won 81 and rest of the matches were drawn. I think it’s quite clear now from the result how exhilarating and spirited the El Clásico is.

In the year of 2000, Real Madrid was rewarded by FIFA as the best football club of the century. This club is vastly familiar around the world for its professionalism. The club was officially founded on 6 March 1902. The credit goes to Carlos Padros not only for his contribution in the foundation of the club, but also the first official title and the international debut was promoted by this legend.

Real Madrid has a great record of 9 times championship in the European cup and it’s the only club that won the trophy five years in a row. It has so far achieved 31 La Liga titles, 17 Copa del Rey titles, 2 UEFA cup titles together with a lot of other titles.

Real Madrid has a great record of 9 times championship in the European cup and it’s the only club that won the trophy five years in a row. It has so far achieved 31 La Liga titles, 17 Copa del Rey titles, 2 UEFA cup titles together with a lot of other titles.

Because of wearing all white pieces of clothing, the team is known as los meringues and  los blancos. The traditional color of their outfits for away matches are all black and all purple respectively.  A common trend of this club is to sign the most prominent players of the world and for this reason it’s also called los galácticos by the media. Santiago Bernabéu stadium is the home ground of this club with the capacity to accommodate 80,354 people. The running president of this club is Florentino Perez. In terms of revenue, it’s the richest football club in the world

The possible squad of Real Madrid for El Clásico:

Name----Jersey Number----Position----Country

Iker Casillas (C)----1----Goal Keeper----Spain

Ricardo Carvalho----2----Defender----Portugal

Sergio Ramos (VC)----4----Defender----Spain

Mahamadou Diarra----6----Midfielder----Mali

Cristiano Ronaldo----7----Forward----Portugal

Marcelo----12----Defender----Brazil

Xabi Alonso----14----Midfielder----Spain

Gonzalo Higuain----20----Forward----Argentina

Mesut Ozil----23----Midfielder----Germany

Angel Di Maria----22----Midfielder----Argentina

Sami Khedira----24----Midfielder----Germany

Jose Mourinho----()----Coach----Portugal

Mostly known as Barça, this club is now the most flourishing football club in Spanish football as it’s the winner of trebles (La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League) in the 2008-’09 season. Not only that, Barça is the first football club in the history to win six out of six competitions in the same year, thus carrying out the titles of sextuple, together with the above-mentioned treble and the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. This club was originated in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Spanish footballers led by Joan Gamper. The motto of this club is: "Més que un club" (English: More than a club) since the club has become a representative of Catalan culture and Catalanism.

With the winning of Copa del Rey championship titles for a record breaking 25 times, Barça has been awarded with 20 La Liga titles, 3 European Champions League titles, 4 UEFA Cup Winners’ cup titles (record) and so many other titles up to now.

Scarlet and blue have featured on the club shirt for more than one hundred years and the club is widely known as the ‘Blaugrana’ in reference to the names of these colours in the Catalan language. This club is also identified by two other nicks: L'equip blaugrana (team), Culers or Culés (supporters). The home ground of this club is Camp Nou Stadium with the capacity of 99,354 people. Sandro Rosel is the current President of Barça. If you want to justify this club by revenue, then it’s the world’s second richest club.

The possible squad of Barcelona for El Clásico:

Name----Jersey Number----Position----Country

Victor Valdes----1----Goal Keeper----Spain

Daniel Alves----2----Defender----Brazil

Gerard Piqué----3----Defender----Spain

Carles Puyol (C)----4---- Defender---- Spain

Xavi Hernandez (VC)----6---- Midfielder ---- Spain

David Villa ----7---- Forward ---- Spain

Andres Iniesta ----8----Midfielder---- Spain

Lionel Messi ----10---- Forward ----Argentina

Pedro Rodriguez ----17---- Forward ---- Spain

Javier Mascherano ----14----Midfielder----Argentina

Adriano Correira ----21---- Defender---- Brazil

Josep Guardiola----()----Coach----Spain

Barcelona is the winner of last 4 matches against Real Madrid. So it’s a huge pressure for the players of Real Madrid to make the victory by any means for their club as well as their supporters. The excitement of this game has been increased highly as it’s the first El Clásico for the world famous coach Jose Mourinho.

El Clásico is providing the opportunity for the football lovers to watch Lionel Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa against Gonzalo Higuain, and Mourinho against Guardiola. To see them all in one place cannot be anything other than a phenomenal event.