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El Clasico

Derby day: 6 of the greatest El Clasico moments

Get the tapas ready and pour yourself another glass of Rioja. Tonight we’re all Spanish (or Catalan).

WHEN LA LIGA’S big two collide, the world sits up and takes notice.

The biggest derby in football rarely disappoints so to keep you amused before tonight’s La Liga clash, The42 has compiled some of their most historic past meetings.

Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid – European Cup semi-final second leg, 1960

Madrid clocked up European Cup titles like they were going out of fashion during the competition’s early years. In fact of the ten they’ve won to date, FIVE came between 1955-1960 as they swept aside any club who were foolish enough to stand in their way. This all-Spanish semi-final finished 6-2 on aggregate.

Real Madrid 0-5 Barcelona – La Liga, 1974

Johan Cruyff personifies ‘the Barcelona way’ and the legendary Dutchman revolutionised the club both as a player and a coach. Madrid had come calling  during his time at Ajax but he turned them down and a year later ran the show in this game – scoring one and assisting three more.

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid – La Liga, 1994

As manager, Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ contained talents such as a baby-faced Pep Guardiola (see clip below), Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Gheorghe Hagi, Hristo Stoichkov and Romario. The Blaugrana annihilated Madrid on this particular January evening with Romario bagging a hat-trick.

Barcelona 0-0 Real Madrid – La Liga, 2002

Former World Player of the Year Luis Figo enjoyed a God-like status in Catalunya – that was before he upped and left for the capital to become Florentino Perez’s very first Galactico. On this return to Camp Nou, bottles, plastic cups and a pig’s head came raining down on the Portuguese winger’s head before the referee decided to postpone the game for 13 minutes fearing for the players’ safety.

Barcelona 3-3 Real Madrid – La Liga, 2007

The 06-07 season witnessed an unassuming 20-year-old by the name of Lionel Messi establish himself alongside Ronaldinho and Xavi. Returning from a broken metatarsal, the Argentine maestro equalised three times to rescue a point with a smashing hat-trick. Here’s his third in injury-time:

Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona – Copa Del Rey final, 2011

Last season witnessed a ‘world series’ of El Clasicos – a La Liga fixture, the two-legged meeting in the Champions League semi-final and the Copa Del Rey final meant the pair faced off on four occasions in the space of 18 days. Barca claimed a league and European double but Madrid did deny them the domestic cup thanks to this Cristiano Ronaldo header.

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