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Whether you call it a clasico, a derby or maybe something else but when two eternal rivals come face to face in football, the environment is unmatched.
Fans talk about it for days, they dream about it for months and certainly remember it for years because it is always special when two real and emotionally competitive rivals come across each other.
Sometimes there's a lot at stake in these matches and the intensity is natural, but the true beauty of these games is that even if nothing is at stake there is no reduction in the level of intensity. Both sets of fans want their teams to absolutely crush their rivals and thus gain the bragging rights at least until the next one.
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Football has an endless list of such rivalries. At times, even a single club has more than one fierce rival and that's what makes it the beautiful game.
So without wasting much time let us look at the top 5 rivalries in club football.
#5 Derby della Madonnina
Teams Involved - Inter Milan and AC Milan
Head to head - Inter Milan - 78; AC Milan - 76; Draws - 67
Biggest Victory - Inter 0 - 6 AC Milan
Last Meeting - 4 April 2018 ; Serie A : AC Milan 0 - Inter 0;
Next Meeting - 21 October 2018
Top Scorer - Andriy Shevchenko (14)
When two of the most successful clubs in the football history, the Milan Clubs as they are popularly known, face each other, it is called the Derby della Madonnina or the Milan Derby in English.
In 1908, Due to the issues over the signing of foreign players, the Milan Football Club (Now AC Milan) was split and led to the formation of Football Club Internazionale(Inter MIlan).
Since then, both the Milan Clubs fight for the bragging rights in the city of Milan.
#4 North West Derby
Teams Involved - Manchester United and Liverpool
Head to head - Manchester United - 80; Liverpool - 65 ; Draws - 55
Biggest Victory - Liverpool 7 - 1 Newton Heath(Man United)
Last Meeting - 10 March 2018; Premier League : Manchester United 2–1 Liverpool
Next Meeting - 15 December 2018
Top Scorers - Steven Gerrard (9)
George Wall (9)
Sandy Turnbull (9)
Two of the most successful clubs in the English football history, Manchester United and Liverpool face each other in the North-West derby, called so because both cities are located in the North-West of England and are just 35 miles apart.
This fixture is the most anticipated and watched game in the English footballing calendar.The two cities these clubs represent often adds fuel to the fire in this rivalry because of the historic, economic and industrial rivalry apart from just the football rivalry.
Both clubs try to claim the historical supremacy over the other: United for their twenty league titles to Liverpool's eighteen and Liverpool for being european champions five times to United's three.
#3 Superclásico
Teams Involved - Boca Juniors and River Plate
Head to head - Boca - 88 ; River - 81; Draws - 77
Biggest Victory - Boca Juniors 6–0 River Plate
Last Meeting - 6th November 2017; River Plate 1–2 Boca Juniors
Next Meeting - postponed(no official date till now)
Top Scorer - Ángel Labruna(16)
The match between the Buenos Aires rivals in Argentina, Boca Juniors and River Plate is known as the the Superclásico. It is the most fierce rivalry in South America and some people even consider it the best in the world.
In April 2004, the English newspaper 'The Observer' put the Superclásico at the top of their list of 50 sporting things you must do before you die.
Boca Juniors has been known as the club of Argentina's working class or the people's club, with many Boca fans coming from the local Italian immigrant community. By contrast, River Plate became known by the nickname, Los Millonarios (the Millionaires), with a supposedly upper-class support base. Both clubs however, have supporters from all social classes.
Superclásico is particularly known for its passion as BBC describes it "a sea of coluorful flowing banners, screams and roars, chanting, dancing and never-ending fireworks".
#2 Old Firm Derby
Teams Involved - Celtic and Rangers
Head to head - Rangers - 159 ; Celtic - 155; Draws - 99
Biggest Victory - Celtic 7–1 Rangers
Last Meeting - 29 April 2018; Celtic 5–0 Rangers
Next Meeting - 2 September 2018
Top Scorer - Ally McCoist (27)
The two Glasgow based clubs in Scotland, the Rangers and the Celtic are collectively referred to as the Old Firm, however the origin of this term is unclear.
These two clubs are by far the most famous and successful clubs in Scotland with the old firm rivals winning 103 out of the total 121(85%) Scottish Football League Cups played till now.
Their utter dominance in the Scottish League is the major reason for their rivalry. However, this is not the only reason. It was also infused with a series of complex disputes, sometimes centered on religion (Catholic and Protestant), Northern Ireland-related politics (Loyalist and Republican), national identity (British or Irish Scots), and social ideology (Conservatism and Socialism).
#1 El Clásico
Teams Involved - Real Madrid and FC Barcelona
Head to head - Real Madrid - 95 ; FC Barcelona - 92 ; Draws - 50
Biggest Victory - Real Madrid 11–1 Barcelona
Last Meeting - 6 May 2018; La Liga: Barcelona 2–2 Real Madrid
Next Meeting - 28 October 2018
Top Scorer - Lionel Messi (26)
It's more than just a normal football match when Real Madrid face their eternal rivals FC Barcelona. It is a fixture that needs no buildup.
Two of the world's most successful clubs face each other at least twice each year and this fixture is the second most watched club football game in the world, only after the Champions League final.
Both clubs enjoy global fan base, being the two most popular teams on social media. And thus, it is not only Spain that looks forward to this beautiful fixture but indeed the whole world.
With both clubs representing the two biggest cities in Spain and absolutely dominating Spanish and even world football, the rivalry between the two is natural for footballing reasons.
However, the truth is that this rivalry is much more popular due to political reasons with Real Madrid viewed as representing Spanish nationalism and Barcelona viewed as representing Catalan nationalism, this fixture is often seen as Spain Vs Catalonia.
In recent years, this rivalry has also evolved the rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Following the star signings of Neymar and Luis Suárez to Barcelona, and Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema to Madrid, the rivalry was expanded to a battle of the clubs attacking trios, BBC (Bale, Benzema, Cristiano) against MSN (Messi, Suárez, Neymar)
Not only in football, El Clásico is often regarded as THE biggest rivalry in world sport.
Agree with the list? Disagree? Tell us in the comments below!
