Real Madrid vs Barcelona: which players have the highest salaries?

Real Madrid is the richest club in the world and has one of the biggest payrolls as well. Barcelona, who they will face Sunday’s Clásico, have fallen on some tough times, but still managed to attract some of the best players in the world in the last transfer market.

Let’s take a look at the two clubs’ financial situations and some of the highest paid players from each squad before El Clásico on Sunday.

Follow the match between Real Madrid - Barcelona here

La Liga spending caps

The top Spanish league puts restrictions on each club every year based on teams’ revenues, expenses and debt repayment. Smaller clubs have lower spending caps, while the bigger ones are allowed to spend more as their income is much higher.

Last year the case of Barcelona became well known in the football world when they were not allowed to re-sign Messi due to their financial woes. The Catalan club has had to sell off assets, rights and properties to be able to bring in top talent. They have increased their salary cap to a whopping €656.5 million for this season.

Real Madrid is still in first place as far as spending allowance go, albeit by a mere €27 million. The team’s salary cap totalled out at €683.5 million for the 2022/23 season, which they are hoping will give them the advantage in league play and the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid players’ salaries 2022/23

Real Madrid’s highest paid players this season are international stars Eden Hazard, David Alaba, Toni Kroos, Luca Modric, Karim Benzema and Thibaut Courtois:

In the pre-season Real Madrid was able to transfer players with high salaries to make room for the transfer everyone was talking about during the summer, but which never materialized. Madrid freed themselves of nearly €40 million in wages by releasing Casemiro, Bale and Isco to make room for Mbappé, who never arrived, although that could still happen if things don’t improve for the Paris Saint-Germain star.

In the middle of the pack for the Merengues we have some top-notch players with some top-of-the line salaries as well:

The rest of the squad have salaries ranging between €1 million and €4 million.

Barcelona FC players’ salaries 2022/23

This season Barcelona’s legendary top scorer Lionel Messi isn’t at the top of the pay scale for the first time in a long time. His departure to Paris Saint-Germain shocked the world of soccer, but was something the club president Joan Laporta was forced to do to keep the club out of bankruptcy.

Barcelona’s top salaries go to international and Spanish soccer stars de Jong, Busquets, Alba and Lewandowski.

The middle of the pack at Barcelona is a long list of some of the best international players in the world and team veteran Gerard Piqué, who has other sources of income from his sport event company.

Some of the lesser known players who finish out the list have annual salaries of around €6 million.

So, financially speaking Real Madrid are winning El Clásico, as far as their economic situation is concerned. As far as coaches’ salaries are concerned, there seems to be a tie between Xavi and Ancelotti, who earn approximately €10 million a year.