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Real Madrid, Barcelona And A Pig’s Head: El Clasicos You Can Never Forget

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Real Madrid are set to lock horns with Barcelona in El Clasico at Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday and here are 11 iconic encounters between the La Liga giants you can never forget.

Graphics Courtesy: Sumant Chawla

Barcelona 0-0 Real Madrid – November 23rd 2002

This match had grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

This was Luis Figo’s second appearance at the Nou Camp in Real Madrid colours after his controversial £37million switch to Real Madrid.

Barcelona fans aimed beer cans, lighters, bottles and coins at Figo – every single time the Portuguese star came near the touch-line.

This did not stop Figo, who insisted on taking the throw-ins and corners but the Barca fans vented out their frustration by throwing a pig’s head at the Portuguese winger – which resulted in a in a 12-minute delay to play.

Real Madrid 4-1 Barcelona – May 7th 2008

Real Madrid had already been crowned the La Liga champions while Barcelona had a chance to end their campaign on a positive note.

But things went out of Barca’s control and they succumbed to a humiliating defeat against their bitter rivals.

Looking back into this match, Xavi later described it as the most humiliating experience of his life.

The Los Blancos were unstoppable that season with Bernd Schuster’s side playing incredible football to sink Barcelona in the high-octane encounter – all thanks to goals form Raul, Arjen Robben, Gonzalo Higuain and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Graphics Courtesy: Sumant Chawla

Real Madrid 4-2 Barcelona – April 10th 2005

Despite going through a disastrous spell, Real Madrid showed the footballing world what they are made of – an epitome of total domination on the pitch.

Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo and Michael Owen all got on the score-sheet, while Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o found the net for Barcelona.

The Real supporters went into a frenzy and shouted ‘Ole!’ every time the players completed a pass during the fag end of the game.

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid – November 29th 2010

Pep Guardiola’s ‘Tiki-Taka’ philosophy worked wonders and they went top of the La Liga table by humiliating Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid.

Xavi and Pedro scored early before David Villa bagged a quick brace in the second half to put the game to bed for Barcelona.

Youngster Jeffren scored the fifth in stoppage time before Sergio Ramos was shown the red during the fag end of the game.

Real Madrid 5-0 Barcelona – January 7th 1995

Jorge Valdano’s Real Madrid took the perfect revenge after clinching an incredible victory almost a year after losing against their rivals by the same scoreline.

Chilean forward Ivan Zamorano scored a first-half hat-trick before Luis Enrique, who went on to play for the Catalan giants and later become their manager – added another.

Jose Amavisca scored the fifth and Real Madrid went on to clinch the La Liga title for the first time in five years with Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona finishing fourth that season.

Real Madrid 0-3 Barcelona – November 19th 2005

Ronaldinho showed his class once again and even the home crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu gave the Brazilian superstar a standing ovation as he guided Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona to a comfortable victory over Real Madrid.

Eto’o scored the opener for Barca before the Brazilian magician dominated the game.

Ronaldinho dribbled past several defenders before thumping in a magnificent effort past Iker Casillas.

He scored his second in the game in the 77th minute and it was pure magic. The Brazilian displayed incredible pace and balance to deceive Michel Salgado before making a spectacular finish.

Even the home crowd stood to applaud the World Player of the Year – something which is very rare, especially when the player is playing for their bitter rivals.

Real Madrid 2-6 Barcelona – May 2nd 2009

Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the La Liga table to seven points with a thumping win over Juande Ramos’men.

Gonzalo Higuain scored to give the hosts an early lead before Pep Guardiola’s men triggered a goalscoring rampage.

Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi scored two each and Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique also got on the scoresheet to complete the rout.

Guardiola guided Bracelona to their first La Liga title since 2006 that season.

Barcelona 5-5 Real Madrid – January 10th 1943

Graphics Courtesy: Sumant Chawla

Athletic Bilbao were crowned the La Liga champions that season but fans witnessed the greatest Clasicos of all-time as Barcelona locked horns with Real Madrid at their old ground, the Camp de Les Corts.

Barcelona were leading 4-2 at the interval, all thanks to a brace from Mariano Martin, who eventually went on to become the highest goal-scorer that season.

Los Blancos pounced back into the game after the restart. Manuel Alday Marticorena scored a brace for the visitors and they changed their game style as they came back from behind to hold the Catalan giants to a 5-5 draw.

Barcelona 3-3 Real Madrid – March 10th 2007

Lionel Messi, who is the leading goal-scorer in El Clasico – with 24 goals to his name, showed everyone in this game that ‘next big thing’ in the world of football had arrived.

A 19-year-old Messi stunned the visitors as he dominated the game through the flanks and single-handedly helped Barca to clinch a draw against their bitter rivals.

The Argentine magician scored a quick brace to cancel out goals from Van Nistelrooy before clinching a late equaliser after Ramos believed that he had won it for the Los Blancos.

Real Madrid 3-4 Barcelona – March 23rd 2014

Messi shouldered Barcelona’s goal-scoring burden yet again as the Catalan giants came back from behind to clinch all the three points at the Bernabeu.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side were on the driving seat – thanks to goals from Karim Benzema (2) and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ramos was shown the red and Barcelona took full advantage of the situation with Messi scoring a late penalty to complete his hat-trick as the Catalan giants clinched all the three points.

Real Madrid 2-3 Barcelona – April 23rd 2017

Barcelona needed some Messi magic yet again as they left it late to clinch all the three points against a 10-man Real Madrid, in a win that made the title race all the more thrilling.

Los Blancos pounced back into the game as James Rodriguez scored the equaliser five minutes from time – but the story did not end there.

Messi clinched an injury time winner, which was his 500th goal for the Catalan club and  guide them at the top of the La Liga table.

Real Madrid fans were left stunned while Messi took off his shirt and showed it to the home fans – clearly one of the most exciting Clasico moments in the history of the game.

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