EL CLÁSICO
What happened in the previous two United States Clásicos between Real Madrid and Barcelona?
The LaLiga rivals face off at AT&T Stadium in Dallas on Saturday in the penultimate match of their 2023 US tours.
Real Madrid and Barcelona embarking on pre-season tour of the United States is nothing new, with Los Blancos having now done so on no fewer than 22 occasions, stretching all the way back to 1927, when they took on Galicia SC (now called NY Galicia) in New York. Barça, meanwhile, are currently on their 14th visit stateside, with their first trip coming a decade later.
While the bitter LaLiga rivals are no strangers to the US, they have only ever twice played each other on American soil, and we don’t have to look back too far to those two previous encounters.
Real Madrid 2-3 Barcelona: Miami, July 2017
The first ever Clásico (if a friendly match can be called as such…) took place at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in July 2017, with Barcelona running out 3-2 winners in an entertaining match-up against the then European champions. La Blaugrana raced into a 2-0 lead inside seven minutes thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Ivan Rakitic, but the teams went in level at half time as Mateo Kovacic quickly pulled a goal back from long range and Marco Asensio rounded off a fine counterattack to get Madrid back on terms. The second half was a rather less entertaining affair and Gerard Piqué's close-range volley from a free kick gave Barça the victory.
The Catalans would go on to win LaLiga by a handsome margin under new boss Ernesto Valverde, finishing a full 17 points ahead of Real Madrid. However, Los Merengues won the Champions League for a third season in succession, beating Liverpool 3-1 in the final in Kyiv.
Real Madrid 0-1 Barcelona: Las Vegas, July 2022
The teams’ second meeting stateside came just last July and again it was Barcelona who came out on top at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Robert Lewandowski made his first appearance in a Barça shirt but it was fellow summer signing Raphinha who stole the headlines, finding the top corner of the net after Eder Militão had given the ball away. Madrid’s first-choice midfield of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro started the game on the bench but came on for the second half, although their presence wasn’t enough to turn the game around.
As had been the case after the first US Clásico, Barcelona would go on to be crowned league champions and again finished well ahead of Los Merengues, who ended the season 10 points back. Both clubs suffered disappointment in Europe, with Barça knocked out of the Champions League before Christmas and then the Europa League in the new year, while Real Madrid were thrashed by Manchester City in the Champions League semi-finals.
Real Madrid and Barcelona end US tours against Italians
After Saturday’s match at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Barcelona will finish their US tour by playing against AC Milan in Las Vegas on 2 August, while Real Madrid round off their trip with a friendly against Juventus in Orlando on 3 August.