El Clasico Revisit: Most Memorable Barcelona vs Real Madrid Moments

Confrontations between Barcelona and Real Madrid are not for the faint hearted. It is one of the most unpredictable, temperamental, yet awe-inspiring club games in world football.

Every edition of this breathtaking carnival has a landmark moment, or a split second watershed event that defines a player’s career or a club’s particular epoch. And with just days away from one of the most highly anticipated, all-star El Clasico showdowns in recent memory, Goal.com Spain’s dedicated writers and editors as well as La Liga aficionados relive some of our most memorable moments from past encounters.

Paul Macdonald

As a neutral with no particular preference to either of the Spanish giants, the 3-3 draw in March 2007 had everything. On any other evening, Ruud Van Nistelrooy would have accepted the plaudits by netting a double at the Camp Nou, but this was the match when Lionel Messi first truly announced his mastery against the very best.

Real Madrid were understrength, but Fabio Capello set his side up to perfection, containing Ronaldinho and counter-attacking with pace and guile. Messi however was irrepressible. On three occasions Los Blancos took the lead, only for the then-19-year old to peg them back. His last minute leveller, where he burst through three challenges before rifling the ball into the corner, typified all the qualities that would make him the future Ballon d'Or-elect. Fantastic - a goal I will never forget.

Subhankar Mondal

The Camp Nou cathedral on the evening of November 24, 2002 saw one of the most ghastly and repulsively attractive images ever witnessed by the footballing world. It was Luis Figo's return to his old home and this time things went bad, really bad. I remember the Catalan crowd throwing all sorts of objects at him including a whiskey bottle, beer cans and a lighter, and I especially recall the image of the suckling pig's head - the 'cochinillo'.

Of course, I do not endorse the throwing of such objects at football games but for me, those moments summed up what El Clasico stands for. It is indisputably the biggest club fixture in the world and that evening in the Catalan capital summed up to what degree socio-politics and football are merged together in Spanish football, making it the most fascinating domestic football arena on the planet.

Arjun Miglani

Looking back on Ronaldinho's historic performance at the Bernabeu in 2005 makes his current plight all the more depressing. Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta, Kaka et al. are all fantastic players, but none has so utterly dominated such a big occasion as King Ronnie did that night. The standing ovation from the Madrid faithful was the sort of thing Barca fans usually dreamt of, but here, it was reality. 3-0 at the Bernabeu was a barely believable result, one that served as the final confirmation of the changing of the guard between Spain's big two.

Sulmaan Ahmad

The atmosphere at the Bernabeu on April 10, 2005 was incredible; and the end-to-end, superbly skilled and overall frenetic nature of Madrid's 4-2 victory embodied almost everything that's to be treasured about the greatest club fixture in the world. The game will always be celebrated for perhaps having the most star-studded scoresheet of all time, featuring Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul, Eto'o and Ronaldinho. Michael Owen netted the other, and his countryman David Beckham was arguably the best player on either side over 90 minutes. Madrid's best had passed two or three years ago and Barca's was to come two or three years later, but at this centrepoint, both were at their most uninhibited, purely skilful, cavalier and all-round Clasico.

Paul Madden

In the 2000/01 season, El Clasico at the Bernabeu produced a match that had everything, finishing in a controversial 2-2 draw. This season was Florentino Perez's first involvement as Madrid president, he had just signed Luis Figo from Barcelona, while an ex-Madrid player Luis Enrique played for the Blaugrana.

The standout player on the night however was Brazilian Rivaldo, who scored twice for Barca and in the latter stages of the game had a hat-trick goal ruled out in controversial circumstances. He shot from around 25 yards, mirroring his second goal and the ball deflected into the net off defender, Ivan Helguera, if I am not mistaken, and beat Iker Casillas but the linesman had his flag up as three Barca players were offside, although none were interfering with play.

The Blaugrana protested furiously and players even ran from the bench to confront the linesman. After the game the livid Barca players, including a young Xavi Hernandez and then-team captain Pep Guardiola surrounded the referee, lambasting him for what was a terrible decision.

Anthony Wright

The date is November 19, 2005 and the scene is the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid were looking for a repeat of their 4-2 victory from the season before, but what they got was a Ronaldinho masterclass. Samuel Eto'o and ‘Dinho sent Barcelona into a 2-0 lead, but the Brazilian's second goal was the coup de grace. He waltzed past Sergio Ramos before flicking the ball nonchalantly past Iker Casillas, that had even the Real Madrid fans on their feet applauding the sheer genius. Their team of Galacticos - David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo et al. - had been humbled on their home turf.

Ewan Macdonald

Time is a great healer, but Real Madrid's 6-2 home defeat to Barcelona must still feel like a fresh wound at the Bernabeu. After all, it was mere months ago, and is currently on every pundit's lips. For me it's the most memorable partially because it's so recent, but also because, oddly enough, at the time there was little indication that one was witnessing history. It may well have been a record-breaking result but at the time it was just another evening of Barcelona's all-conquering 2008-09 dominance and Madrid's frailty at the back. Barca made the extraordinary look like a walk in the park, and that is surely the greatest achievement of all.

Lucas Brown

El Clasico went continental in 2001-2002 and the fervour was incredible when they met in the first leg of the semi final of the Champions League. Barcelona had a team that was heavily influenced by the Dutch, with five Oranje internationals in the starting line-up, while Real Madrid had already started to buy big, having added Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane to their squad, but still relied on such luminaries as Cesar, Ivan Helguera and Santiago Solari.

It was those players, though, that the team missed most when Florentino decided to sell 16 of them at the end of the following season. Figo was absent from the first game in Camp Nou, but more crucially for the hosts, so was Rivaldo. Barcelona, even under the hapless Carles Rexach, dominated the game and had the majority of chances but Zidane silenced the home fans before Steve McManaman made the job of reaching Glasgow for the final look impossible for the Blaugrana with a goal in second half injury time. It was an incredible away win given that Madrid were in the middle of a 20-year run without a league victory in Camp Nou that would not end until 2003-2004.

Ashish Sharma

Going to my first ever Clasico way back in 2001-02 season. I was covering the match and it was the highest profile game on the planet and for a novice reporter it was a scary moment. But when I got into the Bernebeu, it was the most exceptional stadium I had ever seen.

To be seated in my place right above the half way line, the full floodlights beaming all around the ground, the bright green grass absolutely perfect, the evening bright and clear, the atmosphere totally electric and revved up for the Clasico. When the teams walked out my nerves just jangled with anticipation... and what a night of football, lit up by Rivaldo. He was simply God for a night. An imperious performance full of sublime touches, raw power, vision and sheer skill.

Raul scored two that night, twice giving Madrid the lead, Rivaldo equalised twice and then at the end had a shot deflected in of a Madrid player, the referee ruled it offside, pandemonium broke out. The Barca players went berserk at the officials, object flew around from the Madrid fans unhappy at the protests. The referee blew the final whistle and one enraged, track suit clad player ran on and demonstrated and shouted and screamed and had to be dragged away by his team-mates as he had totally lost his cool with the referee… it was the captain, Pep Guardiola.

Cyrus C. Malek

In a record-breaking 2008/09 season, Barcelona waltzed into the Spanish capital and calmly dispatched Real Madrid by a 6-2 scoreline - a win that effectively ended Los Blancos' hopes of challenging the Blaugrana for the Liga title. Barca went on to claim an unprecedented Triplete: La Liga, the Champions League, and the Copa del Rey. Moreover, the titles seem to keep coming this season.

Feras Saad

March 3, 2007; the turning point of the most memorable La Liga season in recent history. Real Madrid, led by Fabio Capello at the time, were enduring one of their worst runs of form for over five years. It was end to end stuff at the Camp Nou. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored an impressive double but it was in fact Leo Messi who stole the headlines with a performance for the ages - grabbing a historical hat-trick in injury time as he skipped past two players and slotted the ball into Iker Casillas’ net.

Los Blancos went on to win eleven successive games, thus grabbing their 30th league title in a historic comeback, whereas Barcelona plummeted into a crisis that lasted for more than a year and a half. It wasn’t all bad for the Blaugrana, as it was this game that saw a 19 year old Messi rise to the pinnacle of world football - where he remains to this day.

KS Leong

Just a few days after Real Madrid captured their 31st La Liga title in the 2007/08 campaign, the Merengues welcomed Barcelona to the Santiago Bernabeu and the Catalans were forced to perform the guard of honour to usher the newly crowned champions onto the pitch. The tension and the discomfort was priceless as some of the Blaugrana players were reluctant to applaud their ferocious foes. A truly Kodak moment. But that was just the start of Barca's misery as Madrid went on to thump their bitter rivals 4-1.

Do any of those memorable moments evoke any sensations? Do you have one of your own? Share your most memorable El Clasico moments with Goal.com and our readers…

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