FC Barcelona and Real Madrid share a legendary rivalry that goes on and off the pitch and spans more than 250 matches. To be more precise, 254 official matches have been played between the two sides in all competitions, with 102 victories for Real Madrid and 100 wins for Barcelona. 187 of these encounters have come in La Liga, with Real Madrid winning 77 and Barcelona winning 75.
However, these games between Real Madrid and Barcelona are usually much more than the results obtained, and tensions between the two sides usually flare up. Some of these moments of tension have contributed to making this match one of the biggest in world football.
Mundo Deportivo has identified five key moments of this tension in El Clasicos, which have now become iconic and showcase the extent of rivalry between the two clubs. These five events are discussed below:
The final of the bottles
FC Barcelona and Real Madrid played one of the most controversial Copa del Generalísimo final in July 1968. In this match, Barcelona beat Real Madrid in their Chamartin stadium, but the highlight of this match was the extreme hostility in the stands.
The spectators rained glass bottles in the latter moments of the match, and a Barcelona player, Zaldua, had to protect himself with the trophy that he had just won for winning this match. Several players were injured, and a policeman was also hit by a bottle. After this match, bottles were banned in stadiums.
The night of the piglet
This is one of the most iconic events showcasing the hostility between the two clubs. Luis Figo, a Barcelona captain who went on to join Real Madrid despite ensuring the fans that he would not undertake such a move, returned to Barcelona for a match in November 2002.
The Barcelona fans threw money at Figo, and every corner that he came to take was a torment for him. However, the most iconic of insults was the throwing of a pig’s head on the field when he went to take a corner, the image of which was published on the front page of Diario AS on the day following the match.
Mourinho’s eye poke
El Clasicos during the Pep Guardiola – Jose Mourinho era were always extremely heated, but the heat reached a pinnacle in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup in 2011. Fighting between the two teams started when Marcelo tackled Fabregas near the bench, leading to a brawl.
During the chaos, Mourinho approached the then-Barcelona assistant coach, Tito Vilanova, and poked his eye with a finger. The former Real Madrid manager did not even apologize for this incident after the match and played it off by saying: “I didn’t touch ‘Pito’ Vilanova. I don’t even know his name.”
Pepe Reina assaulted by a spectator
In another match in March 2001, one of Barcelona players was assaulted at the Santiago Bernabeu. The former Barcelona goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, prevented a corner by sending the ball out for a throw-in, but the momentum of his action took him too near to the stands. A fan in the stands took this opportunity to hit Reina twice in the back, in what will remain an infamous event in the history of El Clasico.
Controversial celebrations
Goal celebrations have also been a source of controversy, and some of these celebrations are particularly felt badly by one of the sides. For instance, when Giovanni scored the last goal in the final moments of the match between the two sides in 1997, he celebrated the goal by making several obscene gestures towards Real Madrid fans.
On the other hand, Raul Gonzalez silenced the Camp Nou in the 1999-2000 season by putting his finger on his lips after scoring at the Camp Nou. Similarly, Cristiano Ronaldo also calmed down Barcelona fans after scoring a goal in the 2011-12 season with his iconic “calma” celebration.
