When Real Madrid turns out against Barcelona on Sunday, expect a global audience of more than 600 million, much higher than even the largely India-based viewership of close to 400 million for the IPL final.

Why does El Clasico command such a vast, loyal following? One reason is football excellence: the two clubs have dominated Spain and Europe over the last two decades. Another is that they hosted two of the world’s most famous athletes — Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Madrid). The fan-bases built during that period have outlasted the two superstars.

Proxy battles

What gives the fixture its heft, though, is the rivalry’s intensity. Phil Ball in ‘Morbo: the Story of Spanish Football’ describes “morbo” as a uniquely Spanish brand of antagonistic “needle” that turns football matches into proxy battles over historical, political and cultural divides.

El Clasico is the morbo of all morbos. Real, the capital city’s main club, symbolises central Spain’s grandeur, but reminds detractors of patronage from dictator Franco’s regime. Barcelona, ‘mes que un club’ (more than a club), is a voice for Catalan identity which the dictatorship suppressed. But both are owned by members and run by business elites — the contrast is sharper in perception than in fact.

On the pitch, though, the difference is real. It dates back to Dutch great Johan Cruyff, who played for Barcelona (1973-78) and returned as coach in 1988 with totaalvoetbal, or total football. His ‘Dream Team’ won Barcelona’s first European Cup in 1992 with a young Pep Guardiola at its heart.

When Guardiola became the coach in 2008, he took Cruyff’s ideas to their furthest point with a team built largely on homegrown talent such as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Messi. It won 14 trophies in four seasons, humiliating Madrid 6-2 at the Bernabeu in 2009 and 5-0 at Camp Nou in 2010.

Madrid’s answer was to hire Guardiola’s antithesis, Jose Mourinho. His Madrid was fast, direct and physical, content to cede the ball and strike on the break. The results were mixed. Madrid won the 2011 Copa del Rey and the 2011-12 league with a record 100 points, and an exhausted Guardiola left soon after. But Barcelona won the 2011 Champions League, and Mourinho departed in 2013 with a split dressing room.

In the decade after the coaching stalwarts left, Madrid won the Champions League six times, while Barcelona won more league titles before a financial crisis forced it to let Messi go in 2021. The revival came after Hansi Flick’s appointment in 2024, built out of necessity on La Masia graduates such as teenagers Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi. Barcelona has since won two successive league titles, while Madrid has gone two seasons without a major trophy. So president Florentino Perez turned to the coach he had once hired to stop Guardiola, Mourinho.

This season, Barcelona has won all nine of its league games, scoring 39 goals and conceding just nine. Having lost three strikers in the off-season, it is led by winger Raphinha, who now plays as a No. 9 and has scored 12 goals in seven games. With Yamal and Anthony Gordon alongside, the forwards harass defenders with relentless pressing. Barcelona averages 21 shots a game, and its expected goals (xG) stands at 33.6, a high 0.18 per shot.

The Yamal effect

Raphinha may be the tip of the spear, but this well-oiled Barca is lifted by Yamal who comes closest to what Messi was in the club’s heyday: a dribbler who can cut through defences at will from the right wing, and a terrific passer with a repertoire of tricks. With eight goals and six assists in nine games, he has been decisive at just 19.

Behind the forwards, former Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who chose Barca over Real, has provided the steadiness that Barca lacked after Busquets left in 2023, freeing the precocious Pedri to orchestrate play.

Under Flick, the system is built to take risks. Barcelona holds 69.4% of the ball, according to data from MarkStats, and its ‘field tilt’, the share of touches in the final third, is 72.7%, by far the highest in LaLiga. A high defensive line works as an offside trap: Barcelona catches opponents offside 3.1 times a game and allows only 6.8 shots.

But when opponents do get through, usually in transition, their chances are good ones, worth 0.18 xG each. The risk is mitigated by goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who sweeps behind his defence. Flick’s style is far more vertical than Guardiola’s patient possession, moving the ball quickly to wingers who take on their full-backs.

Mourinho’s Madrid, in contrast, has struggled to recreate the hallowed Kroos-Modric midfield and a gulf remains between the midfield and a formidable forward line. Madrid’s field tilt is just 51.5%, seventh in the league. It has scored 23 league goals,16 fewer than Barcelona.

Kylian Mbappe remains lethal, but Vinicius Jr. has slumped badly, and the two often crowd each other on the left. Both are reluctant pressers which is partly why Madrid paid up to €140 million for 19-year-old winger Yan Diomande, who works hard without the ball.

Mourinho was brought back, by most accounts, because the club’s hierarchy had tired of a dissonant dressing room that had too much power. But his methods may be outdated. In 2021, tactics writer Michael Cox argued that Mourinho’s approach was out of step with modern football, which is ‘about universality’: pressing from the front, attacking from the back. His football has evolved since but his philosophy remains reactive.

The defensive instinct is intact. Madrid allows nearly twice as many shots as Barcelona, 12.8 a game, but they are mostly speculative efforts worth just 0.08 xG each. Its total xG against, 9.4, is lower than Barcelona’s and the league’s best. Still, Madrid has lost two games and trails Barcelona by six points. Since Mbappe joined, Madrid has won only one of six Clasicos.

Playbook with potential

But that one win, a 2-1 victory at the Bernabeu a year ago under Xabi Alonso, was instructive. Alonso played Federico Valverde at right-back and Arda Guler in a three-man midfield. Mourinho used a similar playbook against Sevilla. A midfield that holds the ball, wide players who track back, and Mbappe attacking the space behind Barcelona’s high line is a blueprint that gives Madrid a better chance of competing. Vinicius’ absence through suspension seems a blessing in disguise.

Spain’s football has largely been a duopoly because Madrid and Barcelona keep adapting to each other, never letting the other dominate for long. Under Flick, Barcelona has updated Cruyffian principles with modern-day pressing. Star-studded Madrid has bet on Mourinho, who once managed, at least for a while, to compete against Guardiola.

Yet as Guardiola said in 2011, Mourinho might be the “boss” in the press room, but Barcelona would fight it out on the pitch. On Sunday, we will know if the pitch is still the answer to the Mourinho question.

Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring their first goal on October 9, 2026
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Cristiano Ronaldo reacted to chants by the fans during the Saudi Pro League match ⁠between Al-Taawoun and Neves’ side, Al-Hilal, in Buraidah. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Even in his final moments in a Portugal shirt at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo was the cynosure of all eyes. The footballer from Madeira has lived his life in the spotlight for two decades, and would have it no other way in his swansong at the international stage. But for the entirety of the marquee event in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a discomfiting question was at the core of the gaze trained on him: was the forward, now 41 years old and playing his club football for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, impeding Portugal’s chances by leading the line?

He may tend to think such a query stemmed from a position of prejudice towards a certain Argentine, but his critics stood vindicated as Portugal crashed out at the round-of-16 stage after a 1-0 defeat to Spain. Appearing in his sixth World Cup, he netted two goals against a fragile Uzbekistan defence in the group stage and converted a penalty against Croatia in the round of 32. But beyond that, even as other big names like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham set the tournament ablaze with their attacking exploits, Ronaldo’s contributions on the pitch were minimal and deserving of critique.

In the do-or-die game against the Iberian rival, Ronaldo was a bystander for the most part, touching the ball just 19 times across the two halves without ever testing the Spanish back-line. It is true that Ronaldo had long ceased to be the explosive winger who could dribble past opponents with fleet-footed manoeuvres, but even his movement in the 18-yard box lacked the sharpness desired of a goal-poaching striker in a team harbouring ambitions of going the distance.

This is where coach Roberto Martinez, who has left his post since the nation’s early exit, must shoulder much of the blame for Portugal’s disheartening campaign. It would have been a difficult conversation to initiate considering the deity-like reverence that Ronaldo enjoys in his homeland, but Martinez ought to have overlooked sentimental compulsions and examined the wisdom of placing unequivocal trust in a 41-year-old plying his trade in a footballing outpost. Never mind that nobody has scored more goals in international football than Ronaldo’s 146 in 233 appearances.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid talisman, whose speed and agility were characteristics of the past, could have still had a role to play off the bench given his expertise in front of goal. By starting him in every game when his link-up play with Portugal’s midfield maestros was pedestrian, however, Martinez did not show enough audacity. A damning revelation from the data available is that Ronaldo took 17 shots during the tournament without creating a single chance for a teammate.

It would be disingenuous to suggest the lack of a viable alternative up front when there was Goncalo Ramos, who came on late in the round of 32 against Croatia and promptly produced a stoppage-time winner to send Portugal through.

The 52-year-old manager may argue that his predecessor in the hot seat, Fernando Santos, also endured an early exit despite being bolder at the previous World Cup in Qatar. Having witnessed Ronaldo score just one goal in the first three group games — a spot-kick against Ghana — four years ago, Santos decided to start with Ramos, much to Ronaldo’s seeming discontent, for the round-of-16 duel against Switzerland. The youngster, then 21, responded with a sensational hat-trick, but a 1-0 defeat to Morocco in the quarterfinals brought an unsatisfactory halt to Santos’ stint as Portugal manager soon after.

When Martinez took charge in the build-up to the European Championship in 2024, he steered away from the risk of further alienating the veteran forward. Ronaldo played all five games in Portugal’s run to the quarterfinals at the continental competition, but had no more than a solitary assist to show for his efforts as his team bowed out with a loss to France in a penalty shootout.

Yet, Ronaldo did not pave the way for a transition and soldiered on, refusing to give up on his long-standing pursuit of winning the World Cup. Once he scored five goals from as many appearances in the qualification phase for this year’s showpiece, Ronaldo wasn’t going to be dissuaded from landing in North America for one final shot at the crown jewel.

As was to be anticipated, the cacophony over his spot in the starting XI grew as soon as Ronaldo put up a subdued show in Portugal’s dour 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo in their opening joust. While a brace against Uzbekistan in the second game of the group stage relieved the pressure to an extent as he rejoiced with his signature ‘Siuuu’ celebration and yelled to the television cameras that ‘I’m back’, it turned out to be a false dawn.

In the end, Ronaldo racked up 27 appearances and 11 goals in World Cups. His brace against Uzbekistan made him the first to find the net in six different editions. At the same time, he had just one goal in 10 knockout games and never reached a final.

Clear conscience

“I am sad to leave like this but I have given everything, always given my best,” Ronaldo told the media afterwards. “I go with a clear conscience. This is football, it is the life of a footballer. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. You have to carry on. It was my last World Cup, yes, but as far as the rest of it is concerned: there will be time to think, to be with my family, [I will] not make decisions in the heat of the moment.

“I won three titles with Portugal. Before Cristiano, Portugal had never won a big trophy. The best trophy I won with the national team was (in) 2016, which for me has the same dimension as the World Cup. So I repeat: I leave here with a clear conscience. Tomorrow will be another day and life goes on,” he asserted.

As much as he tries to ascribe equal importance to winning the Euros in 2016, the absence of the World Cup in his trophy cabinet will rankle. Particularly with Messi — the two have been spurred on an individual level by each other’s extraordinary feats — hoisting the holy grail in 2022 and cementing his place in Argentine folklore, Ronaldo would have been fiercely keen for the grand prize not to elude his grasp.

Where the two greats diverged in recent years was in their style of play and what they symbolised to their national teams. Even as Messi remains the twinkle-toed wizard at the heart of every attacking move for the Albiceleste, Ronaldo’s output was increasingly confined to the number of goals next to his name. For Messi’s teammates in Argentina’s iconic sky and blue, the man from Rosario is a hero and father-figure whom they fight tooth and nail for. The equation between Ronaldo and his peers didn’t appear as symbiotic.

Ruthless goalscorer

Once the dust settles, nevertheless, Ronaldo’s World Cup disappointments shouldn’t affect his rich legacy. In his pomp, lest we forget, he could really do it all. He had the pace and power of a sprinter, and jumped vertically for headers in the box like a basketballer would for a slam dunk. Having started out on the wing, he was able to fine-tune his skills to such a degree that he eventually turned into a ruthless goalscorer. At Manchester United in the 2000s and Real Madrid in the 2010s, both of which had A-listers galore, Ronaldo was a match-winner and entertainer par excellence. He was at the forefront of multiple Premier League, LaLiga and Champions League titles for these iconic clubs. The final stretch of his career may have clouded some of those champagne-popping memories. But as and when he decides to retire altogether — his contract with Saudi club Al-Nassr runs till next year — nothing less than the highest praise will do justice to one of the greatest to have graced the beautiful game. No World Cup setback can alter that.

Published – July 14, 2026 11:53 pm IST

The World Cup began as a sprawl — 48 teams, three host nations, heat, distance, noise and the promise that football’s centre of gravity might tilt somewhere unexpected.

Two knockout rounds later, Europe has placed six teams in the quarterfinals, with Argentina and Morocco the only survivors from outside the continent.

European nations — Spain in 2010 and Germany in Brazil four years later — have won the trophy only twice outside Europe, but with France, Spain, England, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland making up three-quarters of the last eight, the chances of the continent adding to that list now feel high.

This is the most European quarterfinal line-up outside Europe since 1994. The round of 16 also ended in tears for Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, while the three host nations disappeared one by one.

The eight teams, though, have taken very different paths to get here. Some arrived through control, some through chaos, and others through sheer stubbornness.

Argentina’s route has been the least serene and perhaps, for that reason, the most revealing. The defending champion had to keep answering uncomfortable questions. Cape Verde dragged it deep in their round of 32 clash and Egypt then had it staring at elimination in Atlanta before Lionel Messi and company overturned a two-goal deficit in the final stretch to win 3-2.

It has not always looked orderly, but Argentina has looked resilient. Messi’s goals continue to shape the campaign, but for Lionel Scaloni, the greater comfort will come from the fact that his team has already lived through the sort of disorder that often ends World Cups.

“We made our people suffer even though we didn’t play a bad game,” Scaloni said after the win over Egypt. “We would be out if we didn’t fight.”

France, too, has been left with bruises. It swatted Sweden aside in the round of 32, but Paraguay turned the last-16 tie into a scrap, defending deep, slowing the game and forcing Didier Deschamps’ side to settle for a narrow win through Kylian Mbappe’s late penalty.

Yet France still looks the deepest squad left in the competition, with Mbappe’s seven goals giving it the tournament’s sharpest edge and Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise all growing in stature.

England’s quarterfinal place was earned in the most difficult setting of the lot. It’s 3-2 win over Mexico at the Azteca was a test of altitude, noise and a wall of home hostility. England was reduced to 10 men and still survived.

Norway, its next opponent, authored one of the shocks of the tournament by knocking Brazil out, with Erling Haaland scoring twice in a 2-1 win. Under Stale Solbakken, Norway can hurt teams both in transition and with the ball, and England’s defenders now face the most obvious individual duel of the round — containing Haaland without losing control of the spaces around him.

Belgium and Switzerland have reached the last eight by mastering pressure in very different ways. Belgium was too calm and too clinical for the United States, winning 4-1 despite the noise around Folarin Balogun’s controversial reinstatement and the weight of a home crowd.

Switzerland, meanwhile, held its nerve better than Colombia in a goalless last-16 tie before prevailing on penalties to reach a first World Cup quarterfinal in 72 years.

Spain, meanwhile, still has not conceded a goal and removed Portugal with a cold efficiency that looks ominous.

The quarterfinal line-up now offers four very different tests. France against Morocco in Boston pits the tournament’s deepest squad against its most defiant underdog. Spain against Belgium in California feels like a contest between a side that monopolises the ball and one that can cut through space quickly.

England’s match against Norway in Miami may hinge on whether England can contain Haaland while still imposing its own rhythm. Argentina against Switzerland offers Messi another knockout maze against a side that rarely loses its shape or its calm.

The quarterfinals are evidence of where this World Cup has drifted. What began as a sprawling global carnival has tightened into a bracket dominated by Europe, with Argentina and Morocco left to resist the pull.

Published – July 08, 2026 08:50 pm IST

Spain’s Mikel Merino (6) celebrates scoring his side’s opening goal with Fabian Ruiz (8) during the World Cup round of 16 match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, on July 6, 2026
| Photo Credit: AP

Ronaldo netted a brace against Uzbekistan.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring their first goal on June 23, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters