El Clasico: It’s more than a match when the world’s biggest two football clubs meet

But none of those can remotely compare to the biggest game of the weekend as the two biggest clubs in world football, Barcelona and Real Madrid meet on Saturday night.

‘El Clasico’ promises to be even more special this time as it will be the first game at the Nou Camp since the death of Johan Cruyff. The Dutchman is perhaps the single most influential figure at Barcelona in the last 50 years, which is saying something. He arrived as a player in 1973 and helped the Catalans end a 14-year wait for La Liga in his first season, which also included a sensational 5-0 win at the Bernabeu against Madrid. Then as manager, he led them to their first European Cup when Ronald Koeman’s extra-time free-kick defeated Sampdoria at Wembley in 1992. Cruyff’s philosophy as both player and manager still burns brightly today, as everyone in the world knows the Barcelona way, the Cruyff way.

That combination of the very best players from around the globe along with local talent developed in Barcelona’s own academy was the bedrock of his team in the nineties and it’s the same now. Think of Koeman, Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov then alongside Pep Guardiola. Now we have Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta from La Masia supplemented by Neymar and Luis Suarez. Real Madrid’s success, however, has been built upon an ideal of always having the very best players. From the era of Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas when they won the first five European Cups from 1956 to 1960 to the ‘Galacticos’ of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and company. Now it is Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, the two world record transfers who are the star attractions at the Bernabeu, charged with adding an 11^th European Cup to the trophy cabinet.

The magnitude of this fixture takes in a whole sphere of issues – politics, culture, sport, regionalism, nationalism and even, football. The shadows of the Spanish Civil War that linger. The on-going pressure by Catalans to gain independence from the rest of Spain. The desire to prove which is the more pre-eminent global city. At times, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid feel as much like political parties as they do football clubs. Each has their own newspapers, which are dedicated to blanket coverage of the two clubs. Marca and As for Madrid, Sport and El Mundo Deportivo in Barcelona. The papers act as cheerleaders and propagandists but can be the staunchest critics as well, with huge influence across the rest of Spain. Television news programmes usually have an item on both clubs on a daily basis, regardless of whether they have a match or not, and it’s the same on the radio. We think the Media in England is dominated by the big clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, but trust me, it is nothing like in Spain. Perhaps a fairer comparison would be with the Old Firm in Scotland in this regard.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have a special pull that attracts fans from all over the world to their matches. A visit to either stadium sees thousands of ‘football tourists’ taking their seat wanting to be entertained by the superstars on the pitch. Going to a match at either the Nou Camp or the Bernabeu is a different experience to visiting a Premier League venue. These are more like cathedrals than bear-pits and for most home matches, the two sides are overwhelming favourites. Therefore, when taking on teams with inferior players and grossly inferior budgets, it’s not enough to simply win. There is a duty to entertain, to play good football and to do something the spectators will remember. That is where Messi and Ronaldo deserve praise. Their insatiable appetite for scoring goals means they are driven to perform every time they step out on the pitch, and their goalscoring records are astonishing.

I attended a Barcelona game in January when they visited Malaga and I was even able to persuade my wife to come along with me. That wouldn’t happen for a bog-standard Premier League game – but Barca and Real have that special appeal. In the crowd that day, there were fans from Turkey, England, Sweden, Holland and even football teams from Germany and South Korea in Greuther Furth and Suwon Bluewings. Everyone wanted a glimpse of Messi and his Barca team-mates, and the little Argentine duly delivered the winning goal, despite being relatively quiet by his exceptional standards.

As for this fixture, Barcelona will be favourites to put the title to bed. They crushed Real 4-0 at the Bernabeu back in November, a result which was the beginning of the end for Rafa Benitez’s time in charge. Now Luis Enrique’s team have a ten-point cushion over Real (nine ahead of Atletico Madrid in second place), and winning this game could mean they put all their attention on the Champions League. Against other opposition, there might have been one eye on the midweek European quarter-finals, with Barca taking on Atletico on Tuesday and Real facing German side Wolfsburg the following day, but not this weekend. This is a Clasico and everything that entails, so sit back and enjoy the entertainment.