With its roots based in politics, the El Clasico football derby between Spanish giants FC Barcelona and Real Madrid is generally viewed as the biggest rivalry in the sport. The El Clasico used to be the name given to domestic league meetings only, but is now the term used to describe any contest between the two teams, even exhibition games and friendlies.
Madrid and Barcelona are Spain’s two largest cities and the clubs are both among the richest and most popular in world sports as well as the most successful. They first met back in 1902 and 115 years later still have an intense rivalry going. These are 10 up-to-date facts sports fans may be interested in regarding the famous El Clasico.
10. The Numbers
The roots of the derby can be traced back to 1902, but the first official competitive El Clasico took place on February 17th, 1929 with Real winning 2-1 in Barcelona. The two clubs have met a total of 269 times between 1902 and August 18, 2017 with the next El Clasico scheduled for December 20th. A total of 34 of these meetings have been friendlies or exhibition games and the other 235 have been competitive contests. When it comes to wins in competitive games, Real Madrid leads the way with 95 to Barcelona’s 91 and the other 49 encounters ending in a draw. They’ve also outscored Barca 399-381. For some reason, Barca takes the friendlies more seriously though with 20 wins to just four for Real. When the exhibition games are taken into consideration, the all-time series swings Barca’s way with 111 victories to 99 with 59 draws while outscoring Real 467 to 443.
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