Sunday’s highly anticipated El Clasico will see up to 40 cameras cover the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, including dedicated coverage of stars Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe a day before Ballon d’Or winners are announced. The cameras will be placed across Camp Nou Stadium as part of a television production plan that includes ultra-high-definition filming, slow-motion replays, and individual player tracking techniques, Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo reported on Tuesday. Why are 40 cameras required? What will the cameras…
It has been 15 years since Jose Mourinho was first thrown into the ring of fire for his first El Clasico at Camp Nou and the famously polarising manager’s Real Madrid side were handed a La Liga battering by Barcelona.
The home team’s supporters have not forgotten that cold November night from 2010, when Pep Guardiola’s men stamped their authority with a 5-0 win.
It became an enduring image of a rivalry that spilled from the pitch onto the touchline, sparking heated confrontations among players and bitter exchanges between managers for years to come.
Now, Barcelona – the city and the club – are ready to “welcome back” Mourinho on his second stint as the manager of their fiercest rival.
“I remember the 5-0 [scoreline] but also the tension,” recalls Aleix Soler, a Barcelona fan.
“You’d spend the whole week arguing about the game even before a ball was kicked,” he tells Al Jazeera at a Barcelona fan zone.
The 35-year-old culer – as Barcelona’s supporters are known – will watch the match, having also attended games during Mourinho’s first Madrid spell.
“Beating Madrid is always special, but against Mourinho, you’re still smiling on Monday morning.”
Sunday’s highly anticipated El Clasico will see up to 40 cameras cover the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, including dedicated coverage of stars Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe a day before Ballon d’Or winners are announced.
The cameras will be placed across Camp Nou Stadium as part of a television production plan that includes ultra-high-definition filming, slow-motion replays, and individual player tracking techniques, Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo reported on Tuesday.
Why are 40 cameras required? What will the cameras focus on? And is this the first time camera innovation has been enabled?
One of football’s oldest rivalries will be in the spotlight this weekend, as Barcelona host Real Madrid in Sunday’s blockbuster showdown.
Famously dubbed El Clasico – Spanish for “The Classic” – fixtures between the La Liga giants have historically drawn millions of viewers worldwide, with many of the world’s best players featuring.
From duels between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of football’s finest players, to Neymar Jr, Luis Suarez, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane, fans have been spoiled for choice.
In recent years, the limelight has shifted to Lamine Yamal and Raphinha of Barcelona and Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr in the Real camp.
With a rivalry dating back to 1902, Barcelona and Real are familiar foes, and victory on the pitch often brings bragging rights that extend far beyond football.
Al Jazeera looks back at their top five clashes here.
The rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid dates back to 1902, when the teams first met in the Copa de la Coronacion (a predecessor to the current-day Copa del Rey). Barcelona won the match 3-1 on May 13, 1902, at the La Castellana hippodrome in Madrid.
It took another six meetings before they finally faced each other in La Liga on February 17, 1929. Real won the match 2-1, thanks to Rafael Morera’s brace.
The formation of Spain’s top flight that year added further intensity to the rivalry.
The term El Clasico – “The Classic” in Spanish – first appeared in a local newspaper during the 1960s. By that time, the match had been long considered a huge derby.
The rivalry is now recognised as one of the biggest in world sport and, in the last two decades, has featured the era of Pep Guardiola vs Jose Mourinho in the dugouts and the small matter of Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch.
Hello, welcome and thanks for joining our live coverage of Barcelona vs Real Madrid in La Liga.
For weeks, La Liga leaders Barcelona have been eagerly awaiting Sunday’s El Clasico as a chance to stretch the gap between themselves and rivals Real Madrid to nine points.
Some turbulence in the final approach to the clash at Camp Nou has complicated the picture for Hansi Flick’s Spanish champions, who suffered their first defeat of the season at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday.
By contrast, Real Madrid have won four consecutive matches, thrashing RB Leipzig on Wednesday and starting to look, for the first time since Jose Mourinho’s arrival some months ago, like a team.
Should Real come away with a win, it would not only halve the current six-point gap, but provide a much-needed confidence boost for a side that has lost six of the last seven Clasicos.
I’m Patrick Keddie, and I’ll bring you the live build-up with the analysis and news surrounding the game, as well as photo coverage of the day.
Alex Hoad will bring you the team news as it drops and live text commentary of the match.