5 things that come to mind when one thinks of FC Barcelona

#4 El Clasico

El Clasico is, most often than not, a fiery affair

Local derbies pale in comparison to the biggest fixture in club football between two of La Liga's finest.

Long before Barca and Real established their domination over Spanish football, El Clasico came to be known as a fixture that pitted the strong independent ideology of Catalonia against the centralising tendencies of Madrid.

In a total of 269 Clasicos, Barca hold the edge with 111 wins, as opposed to Real's 99, although Los Blancos hold the record for the biggest win margin (11-1) during a Copa del Rey match in 1943.

Recent Clasicos have, however, come to represent a personal contest between Messi and Ronaldo rather than between two teams. That still doesn't take away the enormous hype surrounding the fixture.

Every year, it is the one fixture that all football fans, neutral or not, eagerly await. It is the one fixture that always draws a full crowd, the one fixture that inevitably decides which city the La Liga title goes to.

There will probably never be another fixture with the stakes as high as the El Clasico.