Which is the better team, Real Madrid or Barcelona and why?

Pratishthit Iyer

Analog Engineer at Texas Instruments India (2017-present)

18w ago

Being a Real Madrid fan, I would try to answer this as impartially as possible. If you look at various basis for comparison:

Success: Real Madrid have won 33 La Liga titles to Barcelona's 24 and 19 Copa del Rey crowns to Barcelona's 29. But it is in Europe's Holy Grail - UEFA Champions League where Los Blancos have made their reputation as Europe's most successful club, having won the trophy 12 times to Barca's 5. So in terms of success, the spoils go to Real.

Style of Play: Since the days of Johan Cruyff, Barcelona have maintained the possession-based brand of football and built their shrine upon their youth academy, La Masia. Almost every team has at least once tried to emulate their "tiki-taka" but no one has done it better than the Catalans. To add to this, most of their players are home-grown and are well acquainted with the type of football which is demanded. Also every time a player hangs his boots, a new shining talent from La Masia is ready to take his place.
Real, on the other hand, have a reputation of buying rather than making talents. Being one of the richest clubs in the world guarantees massive signings each season - sometimes, even unnecessarily. Over the years, Real did not settle for a particular style of play. The obsession for La Decima barely helped towards managerial consistency and frequent changes in Management meant changes in style of play. Jose Mourinho's counter-attacking philosophy was effective, yet sometimes it backfired. Under Ancelotti, Madrid finally seem to be playing "beautiful football" as the Madridistas wanted.

Head-to-head: In competitive games, Real Madrid edge out Barcelona 92-89. Yet based on these figures, one can barely conclude about one team being better or worse. Also, the last time El Clasico ended 0-0 was in 2002 -
which tells how attacking these teams are when it comes to facing each other. Both of them have managed to inflict thrashings on each other numerous times. But every time these two have met, they have produced a feast of football.

In a nutshell, both are great teams - both historically and presently. As of present time depends on you which team is better - whether you like attractive passing football (Barcelona) or crisp direct football (Real Madrid).

Present Scenario: After the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti by Madrid in 2015, following a trophy less season, in which Barcelona won their second treble, Madrid seemed to have hit a downward spiral - culminating in the sacking of Rafa Benitez. Enter Zidane.

Within just over two seasons, he has won 1 Liga, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 UEFA Super Cups, 2 Club World Cups and 1 Spanish Super Cup. Essentially, Real Madrid are beating Barcelona at their own game. Madrid seem to have given up their obsession for buying stars and have revamped their transfer model. The increased use of youngsters like Nacho, Asensio, Vazquez and signings of Ceballos, Vallejo, Llorente and Theo indicate an attempt to build a team for the future. Their squad depth is unreal and they don’t miss even players like Ronaldo and Bale if at all they need to be rested.

Barcelona, on the other hand, had a terrible transfer window last summer. Their recent signings - Denis Suarez, Aleix Vidal, Andre Gomes, etc haven’t even come close to performing well. The inflow of talented players from their fabled La Masia into the first team has reduced drastically, as a result of which Barcelona have a very weak bench currently. This leaves them bereft of a plan B in case players need to be rotated.

The most recent Supercopa tie between the two giants was a 5–1 aggregate win for Real Madrid. It was the first time in several years that the Blancos looked so dominant over the Catalans in every aspect of the game.

So currently, yes, Real Madrid are a better and stronger team. But I wouldn’t count against Barcelona coming back soon.

Abrar Mohammed

Sports Enthusiast

80w ago

Domestic Competitions:

La Liga: Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated Spanish La Liga since a long time with Real Madrid winning domestic league on 32 occasions and ended up as runner up 24 times whereas Barcelona has won the league 24 times and ended runner up 24 times. Real wins here.

Copa Del Rey: Barcelona has won it 28 times and ended up as runners-up on 10 occasions whereas Real Madrid has won it 19 times and ended up as runners-up 20 times. Barca wins here.

SuperCopa: Barcelona wins 11 times & ended as runner up 9 times whereas Real won it 9 times and ended up as finalists on 5 occasions. Barca edges out Real here.

Overall, Real Madrid= 32+19+9(60 Wins) & 24+20+5(49 Finals) and Barcelona= 24+28+11(63 Wins) & 24+10+9(43 Finals). This shows they are almost on par with each other with Barcelona just edging out Real in domestic competitions.

European Competitions:

European Cup/Champions League: Each year about 78/79 teams overall and 32 teams compete each other in group stage in this competition, one of the toughest competitions in world football. The Competition which gives Real Madrid its own identity to stand apart from all the European clubs, having won the competition five times consecutively during competition’s inception in 1955 and won the competition 11 times until now and ended up as finalists on 3 occasions. On the other hand, Barcelona has had its first European Cup win in 1992 under Cryuff and has won the competition 5 times until now and ended up as finalists on 3 occasions. REAL shines here.

UEFA Cup Winners Cup: Barcelona wins 4 times & 2 time finalists.

Europa League/UEFA Cup: Real Madrid won it twice. Real wins here.

UEFA Super Cup: Barcelona 5 wins & 4 finals, Real 2 wins & 2 finals

Overall, Real Madrid= 11+2 + 2 (15 Wins) & 5 (Finals) and Barcelona = 3+4 + 5 (12wins) & 3+2(9 finals). Real eclipses Barca here.

Worldwide Competitions:

Intercontinental Cup: Real Madrid- 3 wins & 2 finals, Barcelona - 1 Final.

FIFA Club World Cup: Barcelona 3 wins & 1 finals, Real - 1 win

Real Madrid Advantage.

El-Classicos:

All Competitions: Real 93 wins Barca 90 wins.

Real Madrid Advantage.

We have tried to assess both the great teams where we found out that Barcelona has strong domestic stranglehold on Copa Del Rey, SuperCopa, FIFA Club WorldCup & UEFA Super Cup whereas Real Madrid has stronghold on La Liga, European Cup/Champions League, Intercontinental Cups, Europa League.

So, on the basis of difficulty and the level of talent that is at disposal in competitions such as European Cup/Champions League, Real Madrid are the eventual Winners.

Raghav Garg

Madridista

136w ago

This question can not have a definite answer because no team can be the better side forever. 
Real Madrid and Barcelona have a huge historical rivalry during which both have assumed the role of better side at some point of time, the designation of 'better team' has rotated between them. 
If I'll talk about history, my cule friends will ridicule me for that, Therefore, I'll give you recent examples only.

Real Madrid and Barcelona faced each other twice this season (la liga matches) in which both of them won their home matches with Real winning 3-1 at the Bernabeu and Barca winning 2-1 at Nou Camp.

Last season, Bayern knocked out Barca in UCL, and then Real knocked out Bayern. This season, Atletico knocked out Real in Copa Del Rey, and then Barca knocked out Atletico.

Last season, Real won CDR and UCL, Barca were trophyless. This season, the roles have reversed, and Barca have already won La liga and may end up winning the Treble.
I hope you get my point now when I say there can not be a definite answer.

Had it been definite, the rivalry wouldn't be this interesting and we wouldn't have been lucky enough to see matches which are extremely tight, full of passion, and brimming with talent, known as El Clasicos.

P.S. I am a die hard Madridista, while my best friend is a cule.

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