Saturday’s meeting will be their first behind closed doors and rocky starts bring an element of fear for both clubs
Even after 118 years, 244 competitive games, 96 wins each, and 804 goals, there’s still room for something new, something different. Since Madrid CF and FC
Barcelona first faced each other at the capital’s hippodrome in May 1902, tetanus jabs administered before taking the field, there have been
police on the pitch,
MILITARY in the dressing room and bottles in the air; streakers,
protesters chained to posts, political demands and postponements; car bombs, poked eyes, broken legs and flying pigs. There have been fights too, and the finest
Football on the planet. What there still hasn’t been is a clásico played behind closed doors.
Until now.