El Clasico Comment: The match from an American point of view

Posted Saturday, April 16, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

It’s the Super Bowl of Spanish soccer, except this game will be played four times over the next three weeks. Starting Saturday, Barcelona and Real Madrid will meet in three different competitions - the Spanish league, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League – in what could turn out to be the most exciting 18 days of the team's 109-year rivalry.

This is El Clasico at its best…and most American sports fans probably can’t relate.

With so many popular professional sports leagues in the United States, it’s difficult for every sports fan nationwide to pay close attention to one rivalry like they do in Spain for El Clasico. Super Bowl Sunday is known more for its parties than the game itself. The excitement over NBA and MLB playoff series typically doesn’t stretch beyond the teams’ cities.

American basketball player Quinton Hosley, who currently plays in Spain for DKV Joventut and previously for Real Madrid, learned right away how important the Barcelona and Real Madrid rivalry is in his adopted country, saying the only thing bigger than El Clasico is the World Cup.

“The teams can lose every game of their entire season just as long as they beat their rival,” he said.

Sure, there are rivalries in the U.S. – the Red Sox-Yankees, the Celtics-Lakers, for example – but the rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid is among the biggest in the world. The long history dating back to 1902 and the high quality of talent on both teams make El Clasico an event that can’t be missed. When the Yankees play the Red Sox in June, it safe to say an entire nation is not watching.

“It seems like fans are more emotionally in tuned to the teams (in Spain),” Hosley said. “The rivalry goes back decades. The trainer on my team is a Real Madrid fan. I asked him why and he said his dad was a Real Madrid fan, so to go against him is like a no-no.”

In a rarity in European soccer, Spain will get a chance to experience something similar to a playoff series over the next few weeks. The importance of each game increases during the upcoming four-game slate. Saturday’s league match is the least important since Barcelona is already eight points up on Real Madrid in the La Liga title race. The Copa Del Rey final in Valencia will be played on Wednesday, followed seven days later by the semifinals of the Champions League begins at the Bernabeu with the second leg less than a week later.

“Everyone is getting ready for the games whether they’re attending or watching on TV,” Hosley said. “When the games are on, you’ll definitely know. You can hear the roar from everywhere when either team scores. After the games, a lot of the fans celebrate with chants, beer, and simply enjoying the victory. It’s really something to see.”

Even the basketball games between the two clubs are intensified whenever they play. Although it’s a smaller level, the arenas are still packed and the atmosphere is thick. Hosley remembers his Real Madrid matchups against Barcelona as being intense. Just imagine the type of pressure on the soccer players.

“From what I remember being at Madrid, everything is magnified, every step, every breath,” he said. “It’ss a lot of pressure and you have to know how to handle it so it won’t get to you.”

Let the games begin.