Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry—El Clásico—isn’t just the most famous derby in world football, it’s a clash of identities.

Monarchy versus independence, wealth versus struggle (though that old adage feels less sharp these days), the might of Spain’s capital against the pride of Catalonia.

For generations, this rivalry has captivated audiences across the world. And in the 21st century, their meetings have felt more intense than ever—fiery, dramatic and often decisive in shaping not only La Liga, but other major honors in Spain and Europe.

But who usually comes out on top? Over the decades, momentum has swung back and forth, yet on derby day, form so often seems irrelevant. The balance of wins and losses across 200-plus encounters remains razor-thin.

Here, we revisit the last 10 Clásico showdowns, looking at who prevailed—and the heroes who made the difference.

The most recent clash between Spanish football’s two colossi was a genuine all-timer.

Real Madrid roared into an early two-goal lead courtesy of a Kylian Mbappé brace, but Barça soon snapped out of their slumber—and into overdrive. By halftime, they had fired in four goals of their own: one each from Eric García and teenage sensation Lamine Yamal, plus a brace from Raphinha.

Mbappé completed his hat-trick midway through the second half to set up a tense finale, but the scoreline held firm. Barça held on for a famous 4–3 victory at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys – their temporary home while Camp Nou was undergoing renovation.

Not only was it Barça’s fourth consecutive Clásico win, the result all but sealed the La Liga title. To make matters worse for Los Blancos, Mbappe became the first player ever to score a Clásico hat-trick and still finish on the losing side—a bitter twist of history.

Prior to 2024–25, the last time Barcelona and Real Madrid met in a Copa del Rey final was back in 2013–14. On that occasion, Madrid edged it 2–1. Just over a decade later, though, Barça finally had their revenge.

The Catalans went into halftime ahead thanks to a well-taken Pedri strike, but Madrid hit back after the break. Within seven minutes, the game was turned on its head: Kylian Mbappé equalised in the 70th minute, before Aurélien Tchouaméni fired Los Blancos in front in the 77th.

But Barça weren’t done. Just another seven minutes later, Ferran Torres levelled to force extra time—setting the stage for late drama. In the 116th minute, Jules Kounde then rose to the occasion, netting a dramatic winner that sealed Barça’s 32nd Copa del Rey crown and stretched Madrid’s drought in the competition to 11 years.

The two Clásico rivals met for the third straight year in the Spanish Super Cup final, after Real Madrid brushed past Mallorca and Barcelona edged out Athletic Club in the semifinals.

In each of the previous two seasons, the Super Cup winner had gone on to claim the La Liga crown after dismantling their fiercest rival—and 2025 proved no different.

Mbappé gave Madrid an early lead, but Hansi Flick’s men soon turned the tide in devastating fashion. By halftime, Barca were 4–1 up, ruthlessly exploiting Los Blancos’ shaky defensive shape. Raphinha added his second—and Barca’s fifth—shortly after the restart, and only a red card for Wojciech Szczęsny briefly threatened to tilt the contest back in Madrid’s favor.

Rodrygo pulled one back for the reigning La Liga champions, but the comeback fizzled out. The final half-hour produced no further goals, and Barcelona strolled to their first silverware of the 2024–25 campaign—before, as recent history dictated, going on to lift the La Liga title later that year.

El Clásico certainly isn’t shy of stunning results, and Flick’s Barcelona sent out a major statement during the German’s maiden bow in the fixture.

It was Madrid who made the biggest summer addition by acquiring Mbappé, but Los Blancos’ supreme individuals succumbed to the might of Barca’s La Masia-infused collective cohesion.

Flick’s side ran riot in the second half with a rejuvenated Robert Lewandowski netting a brace before teenage sensation Lamine Yamal added a third with his weaker right foot and the red-hot Raphinha completed the thumping on enemy territory with a cute finish over Andriy Lunin.

Real Madrid had long looked destined for the 2023–24 La Liga title by the time the second Clásico of the season rolled around. Los Blancos were all but confirmed champions by the final whistle of Barcelona’s trip to the Santiago Bernabéu in April.

It was a blockbuster meeting under the lights and it was the 2023–24 La Liga Player of the Season that provided the defining moment.

Andreas Christensen’s sixth-minute header was swiftly canceled out by a Vinicius Junior penalty, but Fermín López reinstalled Barca’s lead with 20 minutes to play in the second half. That advantage lasted just four minutes, however, with Lucas Vázquez scoring in his 16th meeting with La Blaugrana in Madrid white.

If one man was going to decide the match then it was going to be the unstoppable Bellingham, and that he did in stoppage time. The attacking midfielder side-footed home at the far post to secure bragging rights and an 11-point La Liga lead for Madrid.

The Spanish Super Cup final so routinely boils down to another Clásico on the calendar. Barcelona triumphed in 2022–23 but Real Madrid would get their sweet revenge in the following year, hammering the Catalan club during the showpiece event in Saudi Arabia.

It took just 10 minutes for Real to put Barça to the sword with quick-fire strikes from Vinicius after some unimpressive defending from a side under the stewardship of Xavi Hernández. Lewandowski’s cracker pulled one back midway through the first half, but Vinicius completed a remarkable hat-trick just six minutes before half-time.

Things went from bad to worse for Barcelona as Rodrygo netted 20 minutes into the second half and Ronald Araujo saw red, with Real celebrating a 13th Super Cup triumph—closing in on Barcelona’s record of 14 titles.

Barcelona’s defence of their La Liga title took a big hit just two months into the 2023–24 season, falling to an agonizing late defeat at home to Madrid in the first Clásico of the campaign.

Ilkay Gündogan bagged his first goal for the Catalan side after just six minutes, but things unraveled in the second half.

Up stepped summer signing Bellingham to continue his unbelievable start to the season, with the Englishman firing in an absolute screamer from range to bring the scores level in the 64th minute. The former Borussia Dortmund man wasn’t finished there, volleying home in the second minute of stoppage time to steal all three points for the visitors. As his disbelieving teammates yelled “again, again” behind him, Bellingham nodded his head in celebrated and mouthed the word, “yes.”

The second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal between these sides in 2022–23 was as one-sided as Clásicos come, with Madrid overturning a one-goal deficit from the first leg with an emphatic 4–0 victory over Barcelona at Camp Nou.

A swift breakaway caught the Catalans cold in first-half stoppage time as Vinicius prodded home, but the second half was the Karim Benzema show following a well-taken hat-trick. The Frenchman fired an accurate finish home from 20 yards shortly after the restart, with a penalty and a neat lifted effort securing the match ball for the Ballon d’Or winner. Benzema became the first European player to score a Clásico hat-trick since England’s Gary Lineker 36 years earlier.

Madrid went on to lift the trophy following a 2–1 victory over Osasuna in the final a month later.

Barcelona may have gone on to suffer Copa del Rey heartbreak in 2022–23, but they had managed a significant victory en route to the Spanish league title against Madrid several weeks prior.

It was a win that moved them 12 points clear at the top of the table, with Xavi’s men all but securing another La Liga crown with their late heroics at Camp Nou.

Araujo’s early own goal put the hosts on the back foot, but Barcelona stalwart Sergi Roberto equalized on the stroke of halftime. It looked as if the spoils would be shared in Catalonia, but a stoppage-time Franck Kessié penalty secured all three points for the eventual La Liga champions.

Barcelona may have gone on to fluff their lines in the second leg of the 2023 Copa del Rey semifinal, but they had made a promising start to the tie at the Santiago Bernabéu. It was a narrow victory but a win nonetheless for the Catalan side.

A fortuitous goal gave Barcelona their victory after a Kessié shot was saved by Thibaut Courtois and deflected back off Éder Militão on its way into the net. In the end, it mattered little given Barcelona’s second-leg capitulation.

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