With football, as with any sport, there is no more powerful reflection of greatness than to compete against a powerful arch-rival, a nemesis whose very existence fuels passion and against whom one’s own greatness is either confirmed or found wanting. Seabiscuit, for example, had War Admiral. Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier. Lance Armstrong had Jan Ullrich.
Such a nemesis serves to enhance, perhaps even define, a competitor’s greatness, and no competition can be considered truly successful unless the nemesis has been vanquished. And yet, as so often occurs in titanic sporting tussles, greatness may be confirmed for loser and winner alike.
Few rivalries in sport can compare with the spectacle, the passion, and the sheer football brilliance of a match between Spanish football titans Real Madrid FC and FC Barcelona. And any meeting between the two is known simply, elegantly, and without overstatement as “El Clasico.”
The rivalry between Real Madrid an FC Barcelona transcends football. It represents a clash of cultures between the Castilian Spanish and the Catalan. To some it represents a clash of the established order versus a progressive social movement. And to others, it may still represent the forces of oppression versus those of freedom and equality.
FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid
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