Barcelona And Real Madrid: An Epic Tale Of Two Football Giants

Whether you like or don’t like Real Madrid, you can’t deny that they are currently the best team in club football. Los Blancos are the reigning La Liga and UEFA Champions League winners. After winning the Champions League in May, Real Madrid has now won the trophy an astonishing 15 times. If this is not impressive enough, they have won the trophy more than twice as many times as the team that has won it the second-highest amount of times i.e. AC Milan (7 times).

Aside from being currently the best club team in football, Carlo Ancelotti’s side also has one of the best, if not the best, squad depths. Three of their players (Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham, and Dani Carvajal) are among the favorites to win the Ballon d’Or this year. 

There is no doubt that Real Madrid has some of the best players in the world among their ranks and back in June, some labeled the Spanish giants as greedy when they unveiled their long sought-after target Kylian Mbappe as their latest acquisition. Since he was a child and during his time at Paris Saint-Germain, the Frenchman had always made known his desires, both openly and subtly, to one day play for Real Madrid.

His dream has now come to fruition.

Kylian Mbappe’s first match for Real Madrid was the UEFA Super Cup final against Atalanta which they won 2-0. Real Madrid’s number 9, or any other player for that matter, could not have asked for a more perfect debut as he scored his first goal and won his first trophy with his new club during this tie.

Bearing in mind the quality of Los Blancos’ squad and that Kylian Mbappe has recently joined their ranks, many expect Real Madrid to absolutely dominate club football this season and possibly beyond. You will be a very brave person to bet against this happening regardless of whether or not you support Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

However, is it going to play out this way especially when you take into context Real Madrid’s fierce rivalry with Barcelona?

So far this millennium, Real Madrid and Barcelona have been the most accomplished sides in club football. From the days of Ronaldinho-Beckham to Ronaldo-Messi and up to this present moment, their intense rivalry has been a joy to watch. 

In recent times, however, the management of Barcelona has made very damaging decisions and indecisions that have cost the club dearly, especially from the financial angle. Before the season started, Blaugrana intended to sign Dani Olmo and Nico Williams, two of Spain’s brightest stars at the Euro 2024 tournament. In order not to violate financial fair play regulations, they could only sign Dani Olmo. 

Before they could even register Dani Olmo as their player, they had to release some already on their books. One of such players was IIkay Gundogan who left Camp Nou to join his former side Manchester City. No matter the perspective you look at it from, letting IIkay Gundogan leave was a very bad decision made by Barcelona’s management. 

The Spanish giants are in such a bad financial situation that they could not even sign Stefan Bajcetic on loan from Liverpool in order not to violate the previously mentioned financial fair play regulations.

Given Barcelona’s current financial and managerial woes and Real Madrid’s current trailblazing run, one might be tempted to feel that the former and no longer worthy rivals of the latter, for the time being at least. 

But is this necessarily the case?

Barcelona and Real Madrid met during the preseason and to the surprise of many, the Blaugrana won the match 2-1. Barcelona has also made a stellar start to the season by winning all the four matches they’ve played so far.

All the credit for Barcelona’s impressive performance so far this season should be given to their new head coach Hansi Flick. Months back, many questioned the decision of the club’s management to sack then-coach Xavi and replace him with Hansi Flick. It turns out that it was a good decision and the Spanish giants are reaping the benefits.

After winning all four matches Barcelona has played so far, Hansi Flick has now become the first German coach to win a La Liga Coach of the Month award. The 59-year-old along with former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola hold the record as the only coaches who have won all the tournaments they competed in a calendar year. Pep Guardiola did this with Barcelona in 2009 and Hansi Flick did this with Bayern Munich in 2020.

Meanwhile, at Real Madrid, the reigning La Liga has made a not-so-stellar start to the season. They have won 2 and drawn 2 out of the 4 matches they’ve played so far. Despite scoring on his debut, Kylian Mbappe is currently struggling to find his place in the Real Madrid squad. Even though the 2024/25 season is young, some people believe that Los Blancos is already suffering from a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

The beginning of the 2024/25 season was not supposed to play out this way. Real Madrid were expected to make a flying start while their rivals Barcelona were expected to struggle. As fate would have it, exactly the opposite has occurred. 

From Real Madrid’s perspective, what makes this really interesting is that they have a notorious habit of turning around unfortunate situations to favor them. You would be a brave person to bet against the 15-time Champions League winners failing to find their form again. 

As for Barcelona, Hansi Flick has wasted no time in proving his merit. Notwithstanding, some major odds are not in his favor when you take into consideration the club’s financial woes and controversial management decisions over the years. These issues might pose a threat to him properly bringing his vision to life at Camp Nou. Whether or not the former Bayern Munich boss will rise above these setbacks only time will tell.

The 2024/25 season will definitely add some twists and turns to the epic tale that is the rivalry between the two biggest football clubs in Spain – Real Madrid and Barcelona.