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Lionel Messi v Cristiano Ronaldo, Pep Guardiola v Jose Mourinho, Barcelona v Real Madrid. Footballing rivalries often go through a golden era, where each game seems to be more entertaining than the last, but this was more than that. Beyond the matches, the goals, the red cards, the world class talent on show, El Clasico reshaped so much of what we enjoy in modern football today. For a three year period, football was taken to a whole new level, from La Liga to the UEFA Champions League, and has never been the same since. This is the how El Clásico changed football forever.
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00:00The year is 2009.
00:04Pep Guardiola, in his first season at Barcelona, is in hot pursuit of the league title.
00:09Real Madrid, on the other hand, are going through a bit of a rough patch by their standards,
00:13where success on the European stage has deserted them for the best part of seven years.
00:18As both sets of players step out under the bright lights of the Santiago Bernabeu,
00:22nobody in the ground that night, nor watching around the world,
00:25would have been able to fathom just how significant the result of that game would go on to be,
00:31as a stunning 6-2 victory for Barcelona undoubtedly kick-started one of the most entertaining,
00:37dramatic and revolutionary footballing sagas the world has ever seen.
00:42This is the story of El Clasico's peak era.
00:46Moves inside Ronaldo!
00:49Messi can finish off Real Madrid.
00:51Messi!
00:53Benzema!
00:53Benzema!
00:55Alexis!
00:56Alexis!
00:57Oh!
01:01Now, before we talk about anything and everything,
01:04we first need to set the stage, because this defeat for Real Madrid wasn't just a defeat.
01:08It was an indication that the gap between Spain's top two clubs was only growing bigger and bigger.
01:14Not only were Barca a team proudly presenting their next generation of young, homegrown talents,
01:19but they were more pleasing on the eye, outfoxing Real in each and every way possible,
01:25all presided over by a coach who was only just beginning to flex his managerial muscle.
01:30After all, this was the game where Pep Guardiola officially unveiled the false nine role for a 21-year-old Lionel Messi,
01:38arguably the greatest individual tactical move ever.
01:41By the time Messi had set one up, scored a couple himself, and centre-back Gerard Piquet was strolling up the pitch to bury the sixth,
01:48the world knew they were watching something truly, truly special.
01:52If the writing wasn't already on the wall for Real Madrid, it was now everywhere.
01:56Newspapers, online, radio, in the very early forms of social media.
02:01They were miles off it, and something needed to be done.
02:03So, what did President Florentino Perez do?
02:06He got out the checkbook, dubbed the second wave of Galactico as a whole host of top stars came into the club that summer.
02:12Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzemaar, Kakar, and most importantly, Cristiano Ronaldo.
02:21But despite this, plus a change in manager, the following season ended trophy-less.
02:28They had all the moving parts, all the right players,
02:30they just needed that one final key ingredient,
02:33a special someone with the perfect recipe to cook up this Real Madrid revival.
02:38And as it turns out, he was right under their nose.
02:41He was the one they wanted, and he was the one they got just a few weeks later.
03:10The mission was simple, be ruthless, more pragmatic, win at all costs.
03:15Oh, and if you can stop arguably the greatest Barcelona side ever whilst you're at it, that's also great.
03:21With his trademark psychological warfare ready to push all players and rules to the limits,
03:26Jose was the perfect man for the job.
03:28And the anticipation for their first league meeting was insane.
03:32This was it.
03:36The moment that Real Madrid had hoped would signal the start of a new era.
03:40Their era.
03:41No longer were they to be so easily swept to...
03:445-0.
03:45They lost 5-0.
03:46For all the talk, the signings, the new manager who had enjoyed the greatest start of any coach in Madrid's history,
03:53nothing had changed.
03:55It was the moment the rivalry turned from as much a sporting contest into a psychological one.
04:00Mourinho realised that the beautiful way might not always work for him,
04:03and to stop Barcelona, it was time to get ugly.
04:07Well, uglier, if that was even possible on the Mourinho tactical scale.
04:11He needed to figure it out, and fast,
04:13because what was about to happen toward the end of the campaign was unprecedented.
04:16Four Clásicos in 18 days across three different competitions.
04:22La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League semi-finals.
04:26Forget anything you watched on TV at the time.
04:28This was the series to end all series.
04:32Up first, the league fixture.
04:33A tense 1-0 that felt like an appetizer.
04:35It wasn't necessarily a result that anyone wanted,
04:38but more importantly for Real Madrid, despite Raul Albion's red card,
04:41they hadn't lost to Barcelona for the first time in three years.
04:45The touch paper was lit.
04:47The first of two main courses was the Copa del Rey final in Valencia.
04:51This was a different Madrid.
04:53Mourinho had focused purely on stopping Barcelona.
04:56He used Pepe as an aggressive midfield destroyer,
04:59and the match became a relentless slugfest.
05:02After a gruelling 90 minutes ended 0-0,
05:04the game went to extra time,
05:06and in the 103rd minute, the moment of truth finally came.
05:10Di Maria.
05:12Good ball from Marcelo, that.
05:13Great cross, header!
05:14Goal!
05:15Cristiano Ronaldo!
05:18A magnificent header!
05:21Real Madrid with a breakthrough!
05:24What a big goal that could turn out to be!
05:28It was a breakthrough moment,
05:30a proof of concept for Mourinho.
05:31The counter-attack could prevail.
05:34It was vital, a psychological trophy win,
05:37giving Madrid the belief that they could, in fact,
05:39beat this magnificent Barcelona team.
05:41They had finally slain the dragon.
05:44Well, sort of.
05:45Because the fight for supremacy was still ongoing,
05:47and the next battleground was arguably the biggest of them all,
05:50the Champions League semi-finals.
05:53The first leg at the Bernabeu was really something to behold.
05:56The atmosphere?
05:57Hostile.
05:58The aftertaste of the first two games lingering.
06:01The prize for winning, taking a huge step towards a Champions League final.
06:05You know a rivalry has reached peak hatred,
06:07when Barcelona's substitute goalkeeper,
06:09Jose Pinto,
06:10is sent off for a melee at half-time,
06:12and the red cards didn't even stop there.
06:14In fact, it reached such fever pitch that Pepe was sent off for a reckless tackle on Dani Alves,
06:19which in turn saw Mourinho's complaints to the referee earn him ascending off too,
06:24watching hopelessly from the stands,
06:26as amidst all the chaos,
06:27utter genius emerged.
06:29Away from Marcelo.
06:32Messi!
06:33The Catalan Kings lead in Madrid!
06:37And this time,
06:39Pepe is the boss.
06:41But here's Messi.
06:42Away from two, three, four.
06:44Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
06:46How good is he?
06:49A near supernatural goal from Lionel Messi.
06:53All the hatred,
06:54the tactics,
06:55the noise,
06:56silence by a 23-year-old
06:58taking matters into his own hands.
07:00It was the complete antithesis of Real's cup final win
07:03just a few weeks earlier.
07:05Now, the fallout of the game was jarring,
07:08to say the least.
07:09The post-match press conference rant by Jose Mourinho
07:11saw him accusing the rest of corruption
07:13after watching his side get a red card
07:15for the third game in a row against Barca.
07:17There were also accusations of racist remarks from Sergio Busquets,
07:21and both teams complained to UEFA about the other's conduct.
07:25All of this would suggest that the second leg in Barcelona
07:27was just a ticking time bomb.
07:30But instead of a referee's worst nightmare,
07:32the match was actually a thoroughly entertaining one,
07:35showing that first and foremost,
07:36these were football players,
07:38and very good ones at that.
07:40Another one-all draw closed out this four-game series,
07:43and a draw that saw Barcelona book their place
07:45in yet another Champions League final.
07:48One they, of course, went on to win.
07:50The sheer intensity of these four games
07:52led to arguably the most iconic off-field moment
07:55of the whole era in the Supercoppa match later that year,
07:59where Mourinho walked over during a mass brawl,
08:01because, of course, there was a mass brawl,
08:03and poked Barcelona assistant coach Tito Villanova in the eye.
08:07This wasn't just football.
08:08This was a personal vendetta that completely spilled over,
08:12creating an environment of perpetual hate
08:14that defined this golden age.
08:16But here's the thing about Mourinho.
08:17Whether you love him or hate him,
08:19today or tomorrow, this game or the next,
08:21eventually, he always wins.
08:24With the 2011-2012 season well underway,
08:27and Jose having pulled his finger out of Tito Villanova's eye,
08:30he was actually steadily building a team
08:31truly worthy of being champions.
08:34This Madrid side was a counter-attacking machine
08:36that went on to score a record number of league goals that year,
08:39121 of them, in fact.
08:42But despite the eventual success of the campaign,
08:44there were still some Clasco defeats to endure,
08:46because Barcelona were just inevitable.
08:49Wave after wave of pressure ended in three goals without reply
08:53and a rather comfortable win.
08:55What this all meant was that Real would have to plan
08:58their best time to strike,
08:59like a poacher waiting to pounce
09:01and fully take their moment when it presented itself.
09:04Nowhere was this more typified
09:06than in that season's Copa del Rey quarterfinals,
09:08where, like the Champions League semi-final the previous year,
09:11Real Madrid left themselves so much to do in the second leg
09:15after a first-leg home loss.
09:16Trailing 2-1 going into the Camp Nou return,
09:19Real found themselves a further two goals down by half-time,
09:22but, through sheer footballing prowess,
09:24managed to haul themselves back level
09:25in what was shaping up to be yet another enthralling chapter
09:28in this peak Clasico era.
09:31And then Sergio Ramos got sent off.
09:33Dream over, Barcelona progressed,
09:35and Real's moment would have to wait,
09:37although not for too long.
09:39April 2012, a few months later,
09:41and we're back at the Camp Nou.
09:42The league title hangs in the balance.
09:45Real Madrid sit four points clear of Barcelona,
09:47knowing that victory would put them seven points clear,
09:49and with four games to go,
09:51it was the sort of lead that would be too much to overcome,
09:53even for this great Barcelona side.
09:55With all the focus on the match itself,
09:57another subplot was slowly building up,
09:59one that would yet again change the course of Clasico history.
10:03Whether it was a fully committed decision at this point,
10:06or just an idea floating around his head,
10:08this Clasico was to be Pep Guardiola's last.
10:11Announcing his departure a few weeks later from the club,
10:14it's clear that the energy and the willpower it took to craft
10:17and push this most extraordinary of teams,
10:20whilst constantly going head-to-head with their greatest rivals,
10:23just caught up with even the best of them.
10:25With its usual display of attacking talent on show,
10:27the game was entertaining,
10:29almost incident-free by El Clasico standards,
10:31with the score tied at one each,
10:33heading in to the closing stages.
10:36It was a draw that suited the visitors more than the host,
10:39but, as mentioned before, Real were waiting for their perfect time to strike,
10:43and this was it.
10:47Ronaldo, he's onside, he's beaten the defence,
10:49he draws Valdez, Cristiano Ronaldo with a platinum touch!
10:53If Messi had had his legendary El Clasico moment one year earlier,
11:01this was now Cristiano's.
11:03A fitting back and forth for the two greatest players of all time,
11:06who would not only go on to define this rivalry in years to come,
11:08but to redefine football as a whole.
11:11The goal was the winner,
11:12the moment of defiance,
11:14and the one that essentially sealed Real Madrid's 100-point record-breaking La Liga title.
11:19It was the definitive proof that Mourinho had succeeded in his mission.
11:23He had built a team capable of beating the unbeatable,
11:27and delivered it ever so poetically on enemy soil.
11:31With Guardiola leaving,
11:32the Real victory,
11:33La Liga's ultimate prize,
11:34heading back to the Spanish capital after years away,
11:37it marked the definitive end of the most intense,
11:40brutal,
11:41and spectacular era El Clasico has ever known.
11:44But the impact on the broader football scene was far from done.
11:47Now, if sports has taught me anything,
11:50it's that every great rivalry leaves scars.
11:52And by the summer of 2012,
11:54the relentless emotional toll began to fracture everything.
11:57Teams,
11:57friendships,
11:58relationships,
11:59even the Spanish national squad.
12:01The cause?
12:02Years of tension,
12:03constant confrontation,
12:04and fatigue on both sides.
12:06Inside the Spanish camp,
12:07Barcelona and Madrid players once united to win Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.
12:12But at this point,
12:13they carried the bitterness of club battles into training.
12:16Xavi against Casillas,
12:17Pique against Ramos,
12:19teammates had turned to adversaries.
12:21It took the leadership of captains like Casillas and Xavi to restore peace behind closed doors,
12:26and in all honesty,
12:27it obviously worked,
12:28although it was a Barcelona majority side that saw Spain cruise to another European championships in the summer.
12:34Guardiola, meanwhile,
12:35had handed the reins over to his assistant Tito Villanova,
12:39his meticulous nature,
12:40once his strength had become a burden.
12:42I'm empty,
12:43he admitted,
12:44paying the ultimate price in the pursuit of perfection.
12:47On the other side of the rivalry,
12:49Mourinho's methods also began to crack Madrid's harmony.
12:51By 2013,
12:52internal divisions grew,
12:54clashes with players,
12:55riffs in the dressing room,
12:56public tension with Casillas.
12:57The war he waged to destroy Barcelona eventually consumed his own team,
13:02paying the ultimate price in the pursuit of victory.
13:05Between 2009 and 2012,
13:08El Clasico had burned so brightly,
13:10it began to scorch the sport itself,
13:12blazing a trail so epic that no rivalry,
13:15not even their own,
13:16could follow on from.
13:17What started as philosophy and beauty ended as survival.
13:21The year's close wasn't marked by a final whistle,
13:23but by a collective exhale,
13:25another acknowledgement that the game had seen something incredible,
13:29never to be witnessed again.
13:31Guardiola's Barcelona inspired a generation.
13:34His principles,
13:35pressing positional play,
13:36building from the back,
13:37became the foundation for his career's work at modern giants,
13:40like Man City and Bayern Munich,
13:42and even for Spain's continued dominance.
13:44Mourinho's Madrid,
13:45meanwhile,
13:46gave tactical counterpoint,
13:47proving that there's beauty in defiance.
13:50His approach influenced managers like Simeone and Conte,
13:52pragmatic,
13:53emotional,
13:54disciplined.
13:55Together,
13:55Pep and Mourinho redrew football's strategic map.
13:59For players,
14:00that era was immortality.
14:02Messi and Ronaldo's duels shattered records and reshaped individual achievement.
14:06Their rivalry birthed global fandom,
14:08kids on every continent choosing sides.
14:10Millions stayed up past midnight for those 90 minutes,
14:13hearts racing,
14:15knowing that they were witnessing something historic.
14:17The drama,
14:18artistry and fury turned El Clasco from a football match into godlike mythology.
14:23El Clasco's golden era was more than a battle between clubs.
14:27It was the sport's ultimate mirror,
14:29showing us that football greatness isn't built in peace,
14:32but in rivalry.
14:33Moves inside Ronaldo!
14:37Messi can finish off Roman Redd.
14:39Messi!
14:40Benzema!
14:42Alexis!
14:43Alexis!
14:44Oh!
14:46No!
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