El Clásico has been played for over a century and is one of the most thrilling soccer games to watch, not only because of the intensity of the game, but also because of its history. Real Madrid will face Barcelona in the season's last El Clásico on Sunday. Let's take a look back at how all of this crazy began, as well as some of the facts surrounding the legendary Real Madrid-Barcelona battle.
In February 1929, the inaugural LaLiga El Clásico was held.
In 1902, the two teams played one other for the first time. The inaugural League El Clásico, however, took place in 1929. It was held in Barcelona's Les Colts stadium, but Barcelona supporters were forced to witness their first El Clásico defeat as Real Madrid defeated them 2-1. They did, however, have the final say, winning the rematch 1-0 and claiming their first LaLiga title.
The term "El Clásico" is currently used to describe any match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The name was originally intended to refer to league matches between the two Spanish clubs, but it has now expanded to include every time the two teams play, including title games.
There have been a total of 281 El Clásicos, with Barca leading the way in terms of wins.
Between Madrid and Barcelona, there have been 248 competitive matches and 33 exhibition matches. Real Madrid has won 100 of the 248 competitive matches, compared to 96 for Barcelona (and 52 ties). Barcelona has won 19 exhibition games compared to Madrid's four (and 10 ties). Barcelona has 115 victories against Madrid's 104 in all matches (and 62 ties).
Lionel Messi is the highest scorer in El Clásico.
Despite the fact that we no longer get to witness Messi and Ronaldo compete, their legends live on. With 26 goals, Messi is the best goal scorer in El Clásico games. Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo are tied for second place with 18 points. Messi also has the most assists (14), and is tied for the most hat-tricks (two) (two). With 11 goals in total, Madrid's Karim Benzema is the current active player with the most goals in El Clásico games.
The players with the most appearances are Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos.
With 45 appearances in El Clásico games, Messi of Real Madrid and Ramos of Barcelona are tied for the most.
Real Madrid won by a score of 11 to 1 over Barcelona.
One of the most bizarre El Clásicos occurred in June 1943, when Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 11-1 in the second leg of the Copa del Generalsmo. Barcelona headed into the game with confidence after defeating Madrid 3-1 in the first leg at Barcelona. However, Barcelona was suddenly down 8-0 at halftime, and Madrid scored three more goals in the second half to give us this strange final score. According to some, this is when the true rivalry began.
The goal celebrations at El Clásico are legendary.
El Clásico has seen numerous spectacular goal celebrations, with the ball often being thrown in the face of the other team. For example, after Messi scored the game-winning goal against Real Madrid in the 93rd minute in 2017, he celebrated by removing his Barca shirt and raising it up to the crowd, displaying his name and number on the jersey. In August of that year, Ronaldo scored in the 80th minute against Real Madrid, and he did the same thing, removing his jersey and held it up to the Barca fans so they could see his name and number.