It is a clash that dwarfs every other football rivalry in the world easily beating the derby Della Madonnina, the Mersey Side derby and even the Liverpool-Man Utd clash. No other footballing rivalry is as big as this one. There
simply is no other derby like Real Madrid and Barcelona and given the achievements of the two sides it won’t be too far off the mark to say that it is the clash of two of the best sides in World Football.
Barcelona pipped Real in both the legs of this tie last year and went on to win the La Liga but since the arrival of Jose Mourinho at the helm, Real Madrid are a different side altogether and with an agenda of his own, he is taking
his troops to invade the Republic of Catalunya tonight.
There won’t be any football fan in the world let alone a Blaugrana faithful, who wouldn’t remember the humiliation inflicted by a ten men Internazionale side when they knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League in the quarter
final of the competition last year.
Real have not been bested domestically since April 2010 and that defeat only came at the hands of Barcelona while Mourinho’s last defeat as a Manager also came at the hands of Barcelona on April 28 this year so with revenge on
his agenda. Mourinho will be traveling to Catalunya to avenge his defeat and remind the world why he was brought to Santiago Barnebeau.
It was exactly this clash that Mourinho was brought to Real Madrid for, had it not been Barca’s hegemony over the La Liga in the last couple of years, Mourinho would not be the Coach of Real Madrid, and tonight he will face the
biggest test of his Real Madrid career.
Mourinho is no stranger to big clashes and in fact he relishes these kinds of challenges and after having done it with the lesser mortals of Inter Milan, tonight he will try to do it again with his Galacticos.
Every Barcelona fan would remember that it is one of their former comrades who is coming to Camp Nou with a new army as Mourinho started his coaching career at Barcelona first working under Bobby Robson and then carrying on with
Luis Van Gaal. Mourinho was the Coach of Barcelona’s second team under Van Gaal and worked as an interpreter with Bobby Robson but under Van Gaal Mourinho also coached the Barcelona senior team and won the Cop Catalunya in 2000.
Having previously worked for them and now switching allegiances and working for their worst enemy there will be a feeling of betrayal among the Barcelona fans who will not settle for anything less than a win in tonight’s clash.
Tonight, Mourinho can be sure of receiving cat calls to raise the dead.
The attacking talents on display from both the sides are unrivalled anywhere else in the world and with Messi, Ronaldo, Benzema, Ozil, Alonso, Higian, Villa, Iniesta Xavi, Casillas and Valdes it will be a lineup that cannot be
matched in any other match on the world stage.
It is not just the clash of two different footballing ethoses but it is a clash of two different political identities with one representing Spanish Nationalism and the other espousing Catalan Nationalism and a victory for either
side will earn them more than bragging rights.
For Mourinho it is about his reputation and for Real fans it is about pride while for the Blaugrana faithful it is about avenging last year’s humiliation with an added incentive to overtake their opponents in the race for the Spanish
La Liga.
Only one point separates the two sides going into this clash with Real holding the slender advantage but if Real win they will open a four point cushion at the top of the table while a win for Barcelona will send them to the top
of the roost.
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