New Madrid's „Real“ and „Barcelona“ footballers' clash once again raises the blood temperature. Why have the „El Clasico“ matches long ago become the most important sports event in the world?
At Madrid's „Santiago Bernabeu“ stadium the day before, the first face-to-face meeting of the season between „Real“ and „Barcelona“ footballers will take place in the Spanish championships.
„Lietuvos rytas“ looked at the behind-the-scenes of the „El Clasico“ duel based on impressive numbers.
Record Market Value
„El Clasico“ is worth gold. You won't see such huge sums of euros in any other match.
According to data from the specialized football market website „Transfertmarkt“, the total value of the starting lineups of the two teams reaches a whopping 946 million euros.
„Real“ players cost 506 million, while „Barcelona“ - 440 million euros.
In the ranking of the four most expensive footballers, Lionel Messi (120 million euros) surpasses Cristiano Ronaldo (100 million euros), Gareth Bale (80 million euros), and Neymar (70 million euros).
„El Clasico“ is further distanced from other matches when comparing the amount paid by both clubs to acquire their players.
„Real“ and „Barcelona“ together spent a total of 846 million euros acquiring players who belong to the teams this season.
For 24 players currently coached by Carlo Ancelotti, the Madrid club paid a total of 571 million euros - almost double the amount spent by the „Barcelona“ team, which spent only 274.6 million euros on all its purchases.
But this huge difference is easy to explain: half of the players currently trained by Luis Enrique were raised in the „Barcelona“ football school and have never played for any other club.
The exceptional financial value of „El Clasico“ is best confirmed by another fact - through the „Real“ and „Barcelona“ matches, four of the most expensive players in football history run on the field.
For C.Ronaldo in 2009 with „Manchester United“, the Madrid team paid 93.3 million euros, and last year for G.Bale from „Tottenham Hotspur“ - 91.4 million euros.
This summer Luis Suarez arrived at Barcelona from „Liverpool“ for 82.5 million euros, and James Rodriguez moved to Madrid from „Monaco“ for 80 million euros.
Unparalleled Experience
During „El Clasico“ matches, one can see not only an exceptional concentration of talents in every square meter of the field.
All 22 players in these duels stand out with unparalleled experience. If we add up the matches played by the starting lineups of the regular „Real“ and „Barcelona“ teams this season for their national teams, we get an impressive number - a total of 1489 matches.
By the way, the overall experience of the two teams in this respect would be very similar: „Real“ players represented their national teams 718 times, while „Barcelona“ - 771 times.
The most experienced of all is Iker Casillas, who represented the Spanish national team 158 times.
The „Real“ goalkeeper surpasses three more „centurions“ - his teammates Sergio Ramos (122 matches for the Spanish national team), C.Ronaldo (116 matches for the Portuguese national team), and „Barcelona“ defender Javier Mascherano (108 matches for the Argentine national team).
Participants in „El Clasico“ have not only accumulated a wealth of experience but also a huge collection of trophies. Excluding all victories in youth competitions, the starting lineup players of both teams have already won 226 titles („Barcelona“ - 105, „Real“ - 121).
Outranking them all is „Barcelona“'s Brazilian Dani Alves (25 titles), ahead of teammates A.Iniesta (24), L.Messi (22), and C.Ronaldo (19), who is the most titled „Real“ player.
This Saturday at the „Santiago Bernabeu“ stadium, there should be as many as five world champions playing from the start: Spaniards I.Casillas, S.Ramos, Sergio Busquets, A.Iniesta, and German Toni Kroos, with world champions Sami Khedira and Xavi, who also triumphed at the World Cup, sitting on the bench.
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