Introduction– I am pretty sure as a soccer/ football fan you would have never missed a match of Barcelona vs Real Madrid. This rivalry is so famous that whenever there is a football match between fc Barcelona and Madrid, people call it El Classico . But did you know that this rivalry is decades old. In this blog we will discuss about Historic rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Historic context
This rivalry started at around 1943 when Francisco Franco was the dictator of the Spain from 1939 to 1975. It is believed that when Francisco Franco came into power and became dictator of Spain, his full support was for Real Madrid. Because Barcelona is situated in Catalonia and at that time Catalonia was demanding it’s freedom to form a new country without any dictatorship.
So in simple language you can say that Real Madrid at that time was representing Spain(dictatorship) and Barcelona was representing freedom. Also Real Madrid had full support and backing of Francisco.
Barcelona at the time was also known as Club of Rebels. In Barcelona there were some players who took part in rebellion against Francisco , this is how they were called as Club of Rebels. Now you can easily differentiate rivalry between these two teams was not just about football, it was about culture, dictatorship and freedom.
Undue advantage to FC Real Madrid
Francisco Franco gave many undue advantages to Real Madrid to show his supremacy over rival football club Barcelona. Like there was a rule in Spain that no football team can put any foreign player in there team but Francisco allowed Real Madrid to do so by giving them fake Spanish citizenship and Passport. Some of these famous players were Santiago Bernabéu, Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé, Héctor Rial, etc,. So now you can easily understand how unfair advantages were being given to Real Madrid at that time.
Beginning of Rivalry
This rivalry actually started in Semi final match of Copa Del Rey cup of 1943 and it was the early phase of Francisco dictatorship.
1st leg of the tournament was taking place at the home ground of Barcelona (Catalonia state) . In this match fans of Barcelona and Catalonia made fun of Real Madrid fans and booed them during the match, due to this there confidence got very low and they conceded 2 goals in a very short period of time. As a result of which Fc Barcelona won the match by 3-0.Real Madrid players blamed the crowd and said that environment of the stadium was very hostile and it was very difficult to perform in such conditions.
2nd leg of the tournament was held in the home ground of Real Madrid, also the name of the copa Del Rey tournament was changed to Copa del Generalisimo in the honor of dictator Francisco. In this match no supporter or fan of Barcelona was allowed to enter into the stadium. It is also said that before the match Francisco ordered his guard to bully the Barcelona players. This made Barcelona players very low in confidence. Due to this Barcelona conceded 8 goals in first half and the game ended in 11-1 victory for Real Madrid.You will be amazed to know that this is the biggest score defeat in the history of El-classico.
An image of this match is pasted below. The discrimination and unfair advantage which Francisco did with Barcelona in this match created one of the biggest rivalry in the history of football.
The incident which took Rivalry of fc Barcelona and Madrid to next level.
In 1950s rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid got more intensified when both the clubs tried to sign legendary player of that time Alfredo Di Stefano. At that time rules and regulations were not so strict as today, so both clubs fought hard to sign Alfredo Di Stefano. Meanwhile, a doubt arose in both the clubs, and both the clubs registered Alfredo in their team. so to resolve this matter both the clubs went to FIFA and FIFA decided that Alfredo belongs to both the clubs. FIFA also said that now both the clubs will have to share Alfredo in alternate season.
After this incident, the Barcelona board president resigned in embarrassment. Barcelona also took back the contract they had given to Alfredo.With this Alfredo became a full-fledged player of Real Madrid.
Now next year when the next El-classico took place, Alfredo Di stefano scored two goals in the first match against Barcelona, this made tension reached the next level and Barcelona fans went crazy with anger.
In coming years Alfredo Di Stefano helped Real Madrid in winning 5 Champions League titles. Now this rivalry became famous in whole Europe .
Starting of Modern day Rivalry
The next phase of this rivalry came in the early 2000s when Florentino Pérez signed Lewis Figo for Real Madrid. At that time Lewis Figo was the captain of Barcelona and rumors spread all over Spain that he is going to leave Barcelona and join there biggest rivals Real Madrid.
At first Lewis Figo denied all these rumors but betrayed Barcelona at the end. Tensions and rivalry became very high after this event between these two clubs. Lewis Figo became the most hated person among the Barcelona fans. This event was the starting of modern day rivalry between these clubs.
Florentino Perez got reward of siging Lewis Figo by winning the elections which made him the president of Real Madrid Club.
Florentino Perez was a man who played very important role in signing some of the legendary players of Real Madrid like Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos etc,. These signing made Real Madrid a very lethal team of that time.
On the other hand Barcelona was more focused on signing players from there own academy and training centers.
New chapter of Rivalry
In 2003 Barcelona signed Ronaldinho Gaúcho from PSG (Paris Saint Germain) and he became one of the biggest player for the Barcelona. Ronaldinho helped Barcelona win Champions League after a long time and this club was back on the right track.
This rivalry took a complete new look after the entry of two legends. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona). Now this rivalry was not just about two teams, it also became rivalry of two superstars among football fans. Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2009 and after this El-classico became famous worldwide and every match between these two clubs was not less than a war.
In 2018 Ronaldo joined Juventus and Messi joined PSG in 2021. With this El classico lost it’s charm but I am sure that one day this rivalry will make more new high than this and it will entertain all the football fans all around the world.
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