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On 1 June 2024, Real Madrid further cemented their status as the world’s premier football club, winning their 15th European Cup.
Two days later, Los Blancos added the world’s best player to that Champions League-winning squad, with the arrival of Kylian Mbappe seemingly destined to begin another dynasty in Madrid.
Yet on 11 May 2025, less than a year later, it’s Barcelona who have the chance to put the La Liga title out of reach of their old rivals, with a young core including Lamine Yamal appearing ready to rival Madrid’s new-era Galacticos.
And as they prepare for the fifth El Clasico of the season, the clubs’ differing philosophies have again come to the fore, with both showing signs they could be on the brink of a return to the continental dominance that they showed between 2009 and 2018.
The Spanish footballing duopoly won seven of the 10 Champions League trophies in the above period, with the emergence and continued success of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo propelling this rivalry to a new level on the international stage.
And in 2025, with both clubs re-building after the Messi-Ronaldo era, the roots of the rivalry remain as pertinent as ever, extending far beyond on-pitch success or local history to the core concepts of how each club approaches the game.
One the one hand, Madrid have a strangely unquantifiable club philosophy – to win, almost no matter the cost. This is usually implemented through notable signings, while Madrid managers are the ones who decide that era’s on-pitch philosophy, adapting their own ideas to suit the players and team. You have a team of superstars, so how are you going to balance them?
At the opposite end of the spectrum stand Barcelona, who are seen as having spent decades carefully nurturing a footballing philosophy on the pitch. Managers there have a more distinct framework, so it is up to them to tinker it as they see fit, with potentially spectacular results as Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique have proven.
This approach tied in to the development of players at La Masia, which soon became world football’s most famous talent production line. Add to this some astute signings who blended in seamlessly, and Barcelona ended up producing arguably the best side in footballing history, with the tiki-taka, Total Football blend capturing the imagination on the club and international stage.
And while neither team can quite mirror the natural talent of their respective sides from that era, both clubs are seeing echoes of the Messi-Ronaldo era as the 2024/25 season ends.
Madrid are in their third Galacticos era since that famed side of the mid-2000s, with the signatures of Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Endrick now posing difficult questions that Carlo Ancelotti may be unable to answer.
But in Catalonia, Hansi Flick is reaping the benefits of a La Masia production line that has provided him Lamine Yamal, Gavi, Pau Cubarsi and Fermin Lopez, while the signings of Pedri and Robert Lewandowski have proven particularly astute.
And in terms of playing styles, Ancelotti seems to have failed to blend his stars despite doing so to great effect last season, and already it looks like he will pay the price.
Meanwhile, Flick has been able to adapt the main Barcelona principles while adding his own touches. The most notable is perhaps the occasionally bewildering defensive line, but the German should still come away from his inaugural season with a La Liga title and Copa del Rey after the enthralling 3-2 win in the final.
And despite their incredible loss to Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-finals, the tie gave the impression that the Blaugrana are on the verge of doing special things in Europe, with the young side undoubtedly one of the best on the continent. It is surprisingly similar to 2007/08, when Barcelona exited the Champions League at the semi-final stage and Madrid looked uncharacteristically lost in Europe, exiting at the round of 16.
In the Spanish capital, the merry-go-round looks likely to continue with Xabi Alonso seemingly bound for Los Blancos, but it continues to be the most effective winning machine on the continent. And with it, there is always the possibility that everything could click soon. Once it does, that dynasty could be much closer than it looks.
But for this weekend, we’ll see a Barcelona side that is very much in the ascendancy against a Madrid side whose immediate future looks uncertain, with change on the horizon.
Though a Madrid win this weekend closes the gap to one point, a win for Barcelona will all but seal the title, giving them a seven-point buffer with three games to go.
It is a far cry from the state of play in May 2024, but with the nature of this rivalry, you wouldn’t bet on another complete turnaround a year from now.
And while we’ll have to wait a few years to see who is more successful between the latest generation of El Clasico stars, we may be witnessing the first battle in the next war this weekend as the struggle for footballing supremacy continues.
English (US) ·