It would be very easy to write off this historic run of four matches in three weeks between Barcelona and Real Madrid as another example of the top heavy nature of Spanish football. As a soccer fan you could shrug your shoulders and ignore what's about to happen, write it off as another example of how the media can over hype games and try to sell us on rivalries and story lines that figments of some sports writer's imagination...but this is El Clásico, this is different.
Real Madrid Vs. Barcelona 2011, El Clasico: First Of Four Clasicos More Than Just A Tune Up
Here in the United States, soccer fans are brow beaten by hype for matches between the “biggest” clubs in EPL and more often than not we’re treated to a week of build up to a boring and uninspiring match. I understand the frustration and I can sympathize with the feeling that all this El Clásico talk can generate, but to ignore the super storm that’s about to hit the soccer world would be to deny yourself what is likely to be a tremendously entertaining experience.
It all begins on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabéu when Barcelona and Real Madrid face off in the first our four meetings between now and May 5th. This first encounter is a league match, a final chance for Los Blancos to reignite a title race that many have been trying to write off as done and dusted for weeks. This match generates a simple question, with three more meetings ahead which arguably more at stake, should I care?
The answer: Yes you should.
On November 29th, Barcelona embarrassed Real Madrid 5-0 at the Nou Camp. Rarely, if ever, have we seen a Jose Mourinho managed team be clinically taken apart by an opponent to the level of what we saw Monday night. If you didn’t watch, you might think there was nothing to see in such a lopsided match, but the drama and entertainment was in seeing the reactions and faces of Madrid’s players, the realization that their biggest rivals had just showed them up one of the biggest stages in soccer.
El Clásico is one of the biggest derbies in all of soccer. A rivalry between the two biggest, richest and most decorated clubs in Spain, forged by years of on the field competition, floating along on a river of political currents. These two clubs have come to represent decades of social, economic and political fractures in Spain. It has transformed a soccer match in to something bigger than any sporting event should probably ever be.
Even with the Copa del Rey final later next week and a spot in the Champions League final on the line after that, this first encounter matters and every soccer fan should experience it. It doesn’t matter that Saturday’s match might seem like the least important of the four, don’t be fooled by anyone telling you that these teams might hold something back or save players for the bigger encounters ahead. This first match matters, it sets the tone for what’s to come. Every tackle, every confrontation, every goal will play on the confidences and emotions of every one involved with these two clubs. What happens in the 90 minutes tomorrow will resonate on April 20th in the Copa del Rey final, and on April 27th and May 3rd in the Champions League. Every second matters. It’s like a great story, or an orchestral performance. You can’t skip a chapter or movement and expect to truly grasp the big picture that’s trying to be created.
When the final whistles blew midweek to finalize the Champions League semifinal match-up, the orchestra began to tune. Players and managers have been bombarded by the press and quietly tried to be respectful of their opponents and respectful of the journey they were about to collectively embark on. Tomorrow we will hear the first music, the story will be begin to take shape and a three week journey begins in which every match is bigger than the one before. Rarely have we seen a series of games between two storied rivals set-up to build like this series of El Clásico encounters.
Clear your schedule, set your DVR, do whatever you have to do to be ready for the first act tomorrow at the Bernabéu. This will be epic.
Maybe I’m blinded by a romantic view of El Clásico, maybe I’m being frivolous is caring so much about what in the end are just games, but I don’t think so. This is what s Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.port is for, to distract us from day-to-day life, to create memories we can keep and share about the day we saw something special happen on the field of play. This series of matches are one of those chances and I’m confident that on Saturday and in the three matches to follow, we’ll see something special.
Most importantly, they will entertain and help will create another chapter in the history of this rivalry and in the history of the game. New stories for fans to share. The kind stories that stay with you, that mean something, even if you’re too small to understand why.
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