FC Barcelona: The Red and Blue Real Madrid

The eternal rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona is more than just a rivalry in football. It's a rivalry that is inexorable, a rivalry that started on February the 17th of 1902, and is still alive until this very day.

El Clásico is more than just a rivalry, it's something that people identify with Spanish nationalism and Catalanism, it's about cultures clashing and all the history they represent.

It's in the tenet of many fans and FIFA that this rivalry is the biggest in Europe, mainly because of reasons outside of football, politics verily played a role in this, however in recent years things have changed and football has been what this rivalry represents.

Throughout the ages, Real Madrid have been the team that spends vast amounts of money on superstars and world wide house-hold names, while Barcelona were known to as the team that brings players from their youth academy, criticizing Real Madrid's policy in the process—with Barcelona's ex-president Joan Laporta once stating "We don't buy Golden Balls, we make them", when referring to David Beckham.

Barcelona's strategy proved beneficial in the long run, the Spanish team resembled Catalonia, with a minimum of five Barcelona players starting for Spain during the 2010 World Cup, which Spain of course won after scoring seven goals, all seven where from Barcelona players in the shape of Villa, Puyol and Iniesta (Although Villa just transferred from Valencia weeks before the World Cup).

For many years, Real Madrid used to pursue the world's greatest players. Madrid usually payed record amounts of money, where as the provenance of Barcelona's players where from inside the club's own walls.

Barcelona fans used to criticize Real Madrid, and stated that they do not have a worthy youth team, and that it was considered below par, and also criticized Madrid's spending in the process.

In essence, Barcelona and Real Madrid might seem like two completely different entities, many fans of both teams claim that they have nothing in common. But are these statements correct?

Not entirely.

Recently, Barcelona have been spending mad money just like their eternal rivals, however Barcelona's transfers tend to go under the radar for a few reasons, the names they spend money on usually aren't world wide names and end up going under the radar (Chegerenskyy, and Dani Alves at the time he was bought to name a few). The other main reason is the media's nature to make Real Madrid seem like the villains in recent years, especially with the grandiose rise to perfection that Barcelona have achieved in recent years with their attractive brand of football.

However, when it comes to buying players in recent seasons, Barcelona's strategies have far surpassed those of Real Madrid and have entered the realms of unscrupulous rather than that of innocuous.

While Real Madrid used to make players force their way out of their clubs and join them (Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, Ronaldo, etc..), Barcelona have surpassed Real Madrid with their public tapping up regarding Cesc Fabregas, and are guaranteed to catch their man sooner rather than later.

However, Real Madrid do tend to pay the correct market price for the player (and sometimes more), Barcelona have been forcing Arsenal to sell their player for almost half his market price, Pique and Puyol forced a shirt on their target in the middle of their World Cup celebrations, and Pepe Reina publicly stated that he is the future of Barcelona.

Needless to say, Madrid didn't reach such extreme limits to get Ronaldo, despite his talents being superior to those of Fabregas', and despite the fact that they have the money to pay the full price.

The difference regarding their transfers, is that Real Madrid tend to buy World Class players rather than unknown names, Di Maria in Madrid is the exception rather than the rule, while Barcelona is the opposite, the majority of players bought by Barcelona truly shine once they join the Catalan giants. Still, Barcelona tends to pay more than their worth.

Barcelona have payed €25 million on an unproven Chegerenkyy, and sold him for €15 million a year later, Dani Alves for €30 million, and Villa for €40 million, not to mention the fact that the second most expensive player in history is a Barcelona player, you start to realize that Barcelona aren't far off in their spending from Real Madrid.

Barcelona fans might rebuke those claims by stating that Barcelona sells players in order to buy new ones, but Real Madrid aren't different in that respect. Robben, Huntelaar, Sneijder and a few others were sold to make way for the new Galacticos.

Statistically, when it comes to making successful transfers, Real Madrid rank higher for the names they've bought, but they are even more famous for shooting themselves in the foot.

Real Madrid have failed to realize the true talents of the players in their ranks, Makelele, Cambiasso, Robinho, Robben, Seedorf and Sneijder are a few to name, the moment Real Madrid gets rid of a player is the moment they look foolish.

Robben and Sneijder both returned to the Bernabeu for the Champions League final (along with Eto'o, a former Madrid player that has made them suffer over the years) were proof that Perez lacked vision. Watching as Sneijder lifted the trophy, Inter should've sent a thank you note to add insult to injury.

Barcelona on the other hand, were usually patient with their players, giving Henrik Larsson a second chance resulted in two assists in the Champions League final against Arsenal, leading to their second Champions League trophy.

Although both teams have been spending heavily in the long run, Barcelona do not have what it takes to keep up with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester City. Barcelona need to tread lightly, for they have already borrowed €150 million, and are already in debts. When it comes to financial troubles, Barcelona have pedigree.

This isn't the first time Barcelona found themselves in such a bad position financially.

After spending one of its most successful eras under its most successful manager in Johan Cruyff, Barcelona then went through one of the worst times in its history, selling the majority of the first team such as Enke and Rivaldo, and going through a trophy-less gap from 1999 to 2004. Barcelona were even sixth in the league at some point, but were finally able to get back where they belong at the top.

The genius of the hole. No matter how long you spend climbing out, you can fall in an instant, back to square one. Barcelona need to get back to their old ways before being forced to sell their players all over again, something that would seems to be a situ, rather than an unfortunate turn of events.

The similarities aren't just limited to transfers only, both teams have similar youth academies, both teams bring out world class talents, but Barcelona are the ones that get more credit, mainly because of their ability to insert their youth products into the first team with absolute ease. Barcelona nurture their young talents along side their seniors to get the maximum out of them, whereas Madrid let players like Eto'o and Mata slip away from them.

However, Barcelona fans cannot deny the legends that came from Madrid's cantera.

After all, before the World Cup was touched by a Barcelona player, despite how many are present in the current Spanish team, the first Spaniard to ever touch World Cup gold was a Madrista.

Iker Casillas, the current Real Madrid captain is a product of the Madrid cantera, along with Raul and the underrated Guti, whose credits are rolling on their Madrid careers are proof of how good the Madrid youth system is.

Indeed, on the pitch, Barcelona and Real Madrid have nothing in common, Barcelona play their attacking brand of football, while Real Madrid are more of a tactical team. But off the pitch, both teams aren't that different, they both operate in similar fashion, at least in recent seasons, both teams tend to spend big.

They both went through a Dutch phase at one point (Oranje Barcelona in the 90s, and Oranje Madrid a couple of years ago), and both teams have the obsession of winning everything, it's not a surprise that this rivalry has lasted more than a century, and is gaining momentum until this very day.

But before Barcelona fans take a stab at Real Madrid and start talking in a contemptuous manner, and before they start to talk about Madrid's spending spree, they first need to take a long hard look at the elephant in the room.

Themselves.