BEVERLY HILLS, October 24, (THEWILL) – On a weekend of another El Clasico, Barcelona are set to host Real Madrid on Saturday at the Camp Nou. The El Clasico is considered by many as the best and most popular League rival matches in world of football, pitching one Spanish football giant against another.
However, superstar players such as the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Brazilian Neymar have already departed Spain and even though the megastar Argentine Lionel Messi and prodigious Spanish defender Sergio Ramos still provide reasons to justify excitement around this LaLiga Santander biggest tie, THEWILL wonders if El Clasico retains its billing as the most exciting game on the planet.
The fact remains that as a football contest, this clash of footballing titans still has much going for it today as it has always had in the past.
For one, it is still a Clasico.
What started as a rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona has become a part of football history. Their first encounter dates back to 1902. In all, 244 games have since been disputed between them.
As fiery as their duels are, they are completely even in terms of victories. Los Blancos and the Blaugrana are tied at 96 wins each. They remain the two most popular clubs in Spain as well as around the world.
The departures at both sides have dampened the feel of the match, a situation which THEWILL believes could have be worsened if Messi had his wish to move to the Etihad fulfilled during the summer transfer window. It has led fans to ask if this could very well be his last Clasico at the Camp Nou?
The sheer presence of the Barcelona captain is already enough excuse to get hooked on watching any game. How much more if he is against a team in the Real Madrid colours for a rivalry that features Messi as the central character?
With his future with the Blaugrana still mired in uncertainty the rationale for the existence of an El Clasico might be coming to an end. This is even more so with Messi’s contract coming to an end next year and signs of his contact renewal remain largely clouded.
A positive for the El Clasico is the emergence of a fresh set of legs. With superstars such as Messi (33), Sergio Ramos (34), Gerard Pique (33), Luka Modric (35), Sergio Busquets (32) and Karim Benzema (32) advancing in age and lessening in vigour, young prodigious players are set to steal the limelight in the future.
Saturday’s tie may well be a showcase for Ansu Fati (17), Pedri (17), Rodrygo Goes (19) or Vinicius Junior (20) on whose shoulders the future of this rivalry will hang when the veterans on both sides exit the stage.
The departures of elite players to other clubs like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Dani Alves, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta have hurt both teams and mean that although Saturday’s Clasico will not lack in quality, it won’t be as prestigious as in recent years. Some have asked if it can still be called a classic as Barcelona and Real Madrid are no longer the same.
The height of Spanish football that saw La Liga clubs conquer the continent in recent years has waned. Instead, several European powerhouses have emerged including Bundesliga’s Bayern Munich, Ligue 1’s Paris Saint-Germain and English Premier League’s Liverpool and Manchester City.
In fact, shock eliminations of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Champions League last season told the full story of this decline. El Clasico may no longer feature the two best teams in the world.
Though the expected tension is still there, it is not what it used to feel like for many.
THEWILL hopes that, even if some of the spark this tie promises and the buzz it generates are lost, the quality of the football remains topnotch to meet up to the very high expectations of football fans who have been following the El Clasicos of times past.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
