El Clasico: Barça vs. Madrid

FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid

El Clasico, or ‘The Classic’, is the name given to football’s greatest rivalry and one of the world’s most popular sporting events… FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid.

On the surface the game represents the two greatest footballing teams in Spain – some would say the world – which would make it an arresting enough contest in it’s own right. What sports fan wouldn’t want to see up-and-coming talents like Pedri, Gavi and Ansu Fati, alongside veteran striker Lewandowski, take on the experience of Modric, Kroos, Vinicius Junior and co., reinforced by new signing Jude Bellingham? But underneath the surface there is much more at stake.

FC Barcelona‘s motto has always been Mes que un club, or ‘More Than a Club’ and, in the face of oppression of the Catalan culture, a victory for Barcelona was seen as more than just a sporting victory – it was seen as a battle won in the war of Catalan vs. Spanish nationalism.

Barça’s club motto emblazoned on Camp Nou’s seating

This political aspect of El Clasico can’t be understated, as during the Franco era (which lasted from 1939 to 1975), the Catalan culture and language were actively repressed by Spain’s centralist dictator who banned the teaching of Catalan in schools and the use of the language in any official or public capacity. In these difficult times for the region, love of FC Barcelona was one of the only ways Catalans could express their regional identity and for them Real Madrid, with their ties to the capital, Spanish monarchy and Franco himself, represented their oppressors and with it Spanish arrogance.

This political aspect of El Clasico can’t be understated… love of FC Barcelona was one of the only ways Catalans could express their regional identity…

Whilst Catalonia’s position as an Autonomous Region of Spain is much preferable to those darker days, the recent cries for full independence means that the political significance of El Clasico has lost little of the piquancy of old… it’s always a full-blooded, and often bad-tempered contest, with both Catalan and Spanish pride at stake.

Dispossessing Lionel Messi was never easy!

Not only that, but as both Barcelona and Real Madrid typically play at a level above the next best teams in Spain, the team that fares better in the two Clasicos of the season (the home and away fixtures of La Liga, played in Camp Nou and the Bernabeu Stadium) often go on to win the league.

Tickets for Barça vs. Real Madrid

Naturally tickets for El Clasico are rarer than gold dust… I mean anyone can grind up a bit of gold into small particles, but show me the fan with a spare ticket to FC Barcelona vs. Madrid!

Your best bet is to study La Liga schedule and buy your tickets through a reputable ticket booking agency ahead of time. If you’re extremely lucky you may even be able to buy them via the two team’s official sites.

Here are three places to begin your search…

1. Ticket Compare (Best Comparison Site)

Probably the best place to search is Ticket-Compare.com as they handily compare the prices of several agents and resellers, helping you get a much better deal. Given that some resellers add a HUGE mark up, this is a really smart website to go through, as you are almost guaranteed to get the cheapest deal possible. That could mean saving hundreds of euros in this case!

FIND BEST-PRICED TICKETS!

The Ticket Compare website is arguably best place to start your search!

2. P1 Travel

This well-known company offers tickets to sports events around the world, and naturally enough is a surefire bet for Barça tickets throughout the season, including of course vs. Los Blancos themselves. Their website is easy to use you can select where you wish to sit in the stadium.

BUY TICKETS ON P1 TRAVEL

3. Official Club Websites

With the caveats listed above, you can try to book directly through the clubs’ websites:

https://www.fcbarcelona.com/tickets/football/football-tickets

https://www.realmadrid.com/en/tickets

How Much Do El Clasico Tickets Cost?

Well how long is a piece of a string… if you do manage to nab them on one of the clubs’ official sites (you’ll have to log on the second they go on sale!) you might end up paying just €150 or so. But chances of that happening are something akin to winning the lottery, as local fans and members will be snapping those up pronto. Tourists and travellers will likely have to go through an agency, where you can expect to pay from €300 to €350 for a category three ticket (ie. behind the goal, at the top of the stadium). If you want to be pitch-side over the half way line then you might be looking at €500+, whilst VIP boxes cost more than most people’s monthly salaries.

When Is The Next Clasico?

Let’s take a look at the scheduled fixtures for next season…. just bear in mind that the Camp Nou Stadium is under renovation. It should be finished for the 2024 / 2025 season, but if not Barça’s home fixtures will be played at Estadi Lluís Companys, the Olympic Stadium on Montjuic.

The next fixture(s) in football’s greatest derby are:

3rd August 2024 (TBC, Pre-season Friendly)

Where: MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, USA
Competition: Friendly
Tickets: Buy them here, from $250

As well as the home and away fixtures of La Liga, depending on Copa del Rey and Champions League draws, the two teams may meet a third, fourth or even fifth time in any given season. We’ll try to keep this page updated, so be sure to bookmark us.

Top Tip: One final warning, sometimes these games are rescheduled by one day (often moving from a Saturday to a Sunday for example, or vice versa), so try to keep your flights and travel arrangements flexible if at all possible, or allow for a day either side of the game.

Other Barça Fixtures

If you have a chance to see El Clasico, grab it! But if you travel dates don’t align, any chance to watch the mighty Barça in the vast 99,000 seater stadium of Camp Nou is not to be missed!

You can check out the full list of FC Barcelona fixtures on Ticket Compare and find the best priced tickets for any given game. Just be sure that you purchase them for a home game.

Games against local rivals RCD Espanyol are always fruity (plus it means you can see Barça ‘away’ still here in Barcelona, in Espanyol’s Cornella-El Prat Stadium).

ALL FC BARCELONA FIXTURES

Where To Watch El Clasico in Barcelona?

If you can’t snag seats at Camp Nou and you want to watch the game, don’t worry every bar in the city will be showing it. For a list of our favourite sports pubs keep reading.