Barcelona's MSN vs. Madrid's BBC: The Rivalry Within a Rivalry Set to Heat Up

Together, they'd all done it.

At last.

In the crisp air of the Spanish capital in mid-January, Gareth Bale had gone first, Cristiano Ronaldo second and Karim Benzema third. Driven by them, by their power, Real Madrid had annihilated Sporting Gijon at the Bernabeu inside a quarter of an hour, the BBC's barbaric streak revealing itself.

It was savage, and it didn't stop there.

But that other lot wouldn't be outdone.

Four hours later across the country, Barcelona's equivalent responded. Lionel Messi went first against Athletic Bilbao, Neymar went next and then Luis Suarez after him. By night's end, the MSN had five, adding to the BBC's handful to see these astonishing trios crack double figures between them in a single day.

This was it. Following a collective eruption, this now, briefly, had the look of a rivalry within a rivalry—one that's set to heat up in the season ahead.

The question was, though, why had it taken so long to genuinely look this way?

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This was an important point in the recent history of Real Madrid vs. Barcelona: Following Suarez's arrival at the Camp Nou in the summer of 2014 to complete the second of these three-man strike forces, this day in mid-January 2016 had marked the first time all six men had scored on the same day.

In doing so, their duel suddenly had a greater head-to-head feeling than it had previously. Madrid's BBC laid down a marker. Barcelona's MSN came back with we'll have some of that. The manner of it was striking—the grace, the invention, the force, the certain brutality.

But perhaps more striking was that it had taken 550 days to occur.

In any other circumstances, expressing surprise that such a length of time was necessary for six particular forwards to score on the same day would be absurd. From people who expect such occurrences, bookmakers earn a fortune.

This, though, is the MSN vs. the BBC: six of the best 10 players in the sport loaded into two front threes, trios led by a pair of historic figures who have redefined statistical possibilities, trios who have rendered the absurd as routine.

Why had it taken 550 days?

Despite its billing, one of the quirks of this often-discussed rivalry is that it hasn't yet grown into a true rivalry at all.

Think of all the great rivalries you know: They're great because they're prolonged, the battle seemingly perpetual, swinging one way and then the other. To be compelling, rivalries require repetition and continuity, the sort of up-close familiarity that feeds an evolving story, an edge and, often, contempt.

But the MSN and the BBC haven't had any of that. Not yet.

To date, the two-year story of these trios has neatly fallen into line with the curious nature of the relationship between their clubs. Barcelona and Real Madrid are behemoths that need each other, benefiting from the other's existence. But rarely are they ever "up" at the same time.

Throughout their history, these clubs have traded periods of dominance. Theirs is a relationship of one up, one down. One soaring, one falling over itself. One lifting trophies, one in crisis.

In a way, MSN vs. BBC has been similar.

In 2014, the introduction of Suarez into this mix was delayed by the Uruguayan's ban that carried over from that summer's World Cup. It was a complication that gave Barcelona a transitional headache, rejecting the notion that this was a three-on-three battle ready to explode from the beginning.

When Suarez made his debut in the Clasico that October, the former Liverpool star looked an uneasy fit out on the right as the Catalans were run over by Madrid in the second half. At the same time, Bale was injured, looking on from the sidelines at an increasingly technical team evolving away from his skill set.

Right from the start, then, MSN vs. BBC wasn't what had been envisaged.

And it's never quite got there since.

By the time Barcelona's calibration fell into place in early 2015 with the move of Suarez into the middle, pushing Messi back out to the right, Madrid were in the middle of structural collapse. Summer upheaval had seen them steadily go down a flawed, playmaker-heavy path. As that process accelerated, Benzema's form fell apart and Bale became an outcast.

Between the trios, by season's end there was no comparison. Barcelona clinched a treble, and Madrid's failure saw Carlo Ancelotti sacked. Rafa Benitez replaced him.

Benitez quickly moved Bale into a central role, and though there were encouraging signs initially, quickly it became a politically sticky issue for the Madrileno. Concurrently, at Barcelona, Messi was sidelined for two months through a knee injury. Bale went down soon after.

Again, MSN vs. BBC? It wasn't really there.

The turn of the calendar year then brought Zinedine Zidane's appointment following Benitez's sacking at Madrid. Immediately, the BBC became rejuvenated under the Frenchman, but on the day of the eruption—January 17, 550 days after it had all started—Bale limped off at half-time.

It was the ultimate tease. And on it went.

The Welshman's return for the season's final stretch saw him go on a storming personal run, but as he did, Benzema's body failed him and even the seemingly bulletproof Ronaldo succumbed to injury as well.

On the other side of the divide, Neymar was slowing down too, the burden he'd carried earlier in the season during Messi's absence catching up with him.

And this is the point: Never before have the MSN and the BBC really gone at it. At nearly every point in their story to date, there's been an absence, an injury or a cohesion issue to work through on at least one side of the divide.

Like that of their clubs, their relationship has been one of one up, one down.

Until now, perhaps.

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Look at the these two trios ahead of the 2016-17 season: What immediately stands out is the simultaneous sense of stability, of harmony—a sort of quiet that's ominous, the classic calm before the storm.

At Barcelona, Neymar will soon return from his stint at the Olympics to slot into a front line that now borders on telepathic. Together, he, Messi and Suarez are balanced, settled and complementary, the system around them streamlined and honed to maximise the damage they inflict.

At Madrid, the dynamic is approaching something similar.

Late last season, Zidane oversaw a subtle but significant shift in his front three. His use of a system that became a 4-1-4-1 without the ball simplified matters and better catered to Madrid's strength in attack: overwhelming power.

From slightly deeper starting positions, Ronaldo and Bale had more space ahead of them to surge into. Bale in particular thrived, growing in stature and belief, earning the undisputed trust of those around him that hadn't always been there previously.

It left the BBC looking more balanced, more equal—more a three than a one and two others.

Like for their counterparts in Barcelona, there's continuity there. And it's the same for the environments around them.

Both of these clubs are entering a new season with first XIs that are extremely defined. Structurally that's significant, and they also go into the new campaign with concurrent stability in the dugout for the first time since 2011-12.

So the groundwork is in place. From here, much of course will depend on fitness, but this is shaping up as the season in which a rivalry within rivalry heats up: MSN vs. BBC—for real this time, maxed out, no interruptions.

The mere thought of it is compelling. Until now, we've considered this a rivalry, but what we've really had is something that's teased at being one. The unrelenting barrages, the prolonged head-to-head shootouts: These trios haven't quite got there.

If we're lucky, this season they just might.

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