Book description
Barcelona and Real Madrid: two of the most powerful and popular clubs
in world football, and one of the world's most bitter sporting
rivalries. Going far beyond the boundaries of just sport alone, this
is a rivalry at the heart of Spanish life, taking in politics and
culture and splitting a country in two.
El Clásico
gets to the heart of that rivalry, investigating the intrigue, the
larger-than-life characters, the key flashpoints and their consequences.
From civil war bloodshed to 40 years of fascism and links with General
Franco, the clubs' shared history is the stuff of a Robert Harris novel
and includes: murdered presidents from both clubs, player kidnappings,
acts of hooliganism - and that's before you start thinking of the
volatile football matches themselves.
The book contains numerous interviews with key figures such as LuÃs
Figo and Hristo Stoichkov (two of the main hate figures from both
clubs), Joan Laporta (Barcelona's most successful president and, having
entered politics, Catalonian separatism's poster boy) and various
ex-players, ex-managers,
agents, referees, hooligans, editors, historians, sociologists,
filmmakers, novelists, photographers, TV presenters and celebrity fans.
The two clubs are packed with international superstar players -
including the world's two best players in Leo Messi and Cristiano
Ronaldo - and 10 of the starting 11 players from Spain's 2010 World Cup
final victory play with either Barcelona or Real Madrid.
This is a story with resonance around the sporting world, with many
instantly recognisable figures
to an international audience such as Jose Mourinho. But it is also a
tale of a country divided by a bitter rivalry. Any fan of the game
will start reading for the football, be enticed deeper by the quality of
writing and research and enthralled by the depth and scope of El Clásico
Richard Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland. He has worked as a
journalist in Dublin, San Francisco and Toronto. He currently lives in
Barcelona, where he covers football for the Irish Times
, New York Times
and El PaÃs
among others.
