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A lot of Real Madrid fans claim that they are the best team ever because they beat Barcelona 11-1 years ago. Now, let me make it abundantly clear that these fans are pure glory hunters, because the situation wherein Real Madrid beat Barcelona by that margin should be a shameful topic for Real Madrid fans as well. But most of them don’t even know about the match and how and why Real Madrid even won.
In 1943, Barcelona faced rivals Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Copa del Generalísimo. That was the General’s Cup, before Spain was made a republic. The country was then under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, himself from Madrid.
Franco was known as a tyrant and was oppressive towards the Catalans. Catalans, in case you don’t know, are from the Catalonia district of Spain, which is towards the west; Barcelona is its capital. Famous Catalans include Puyol, Xavi, Fabregas and many others.
As for the match, this is what really happened: the first game at Les Corts was won by Barcelona 3–0. Before the second leg, Barcelona’s players had a changing room visit from Franco’s director of state security. He “reminded” them that they were only playing due to the “generosity of the regime”. Real Madrid then went on to dominate the match, winning 11–1.
In a nutshell, Franco walks in and tells the Barcelona players, “I am the boss here. It is my generosity by which you are even playing. If you win this match, it will be your last match, because I will have you all killed.” Now tell me, when someone indirectly threatens to kill you and your family, what would you do?
Remember, Barcelona led the match 3-0 on aggregate and they lost 11-4 in the end on aggregate. How can you explain that? The scorers in that match for Madrid (11-1) were Pruden (5, 32, 35), Barinaga (30, 42, 44, 87), Alonso (37, 74), Curta (39), Botella (85); and for Barcelona, it was Martin (89).
Also, the total head-to-head stats show that out of a total 32 Copa del Rey (previously Copa del Generalisimo) matches, Barca won 14 games while Real Madrid won 11. And as far as league matches go, Real Madrid have 70 wins as opposed to Barcelona’s 64. Both teams are evenly matched, if we consider the amount of matches Barca did not perform in due to threats from the Regime.
I know a lot of true Real Madrid supporters and they feel that the threatening acts were despicable and they do not boast about it. Instead, they look at it is a thing of the past, to be forgotten and not mentioned. These are the fans I have great respect for. I respect Real Madrid as a club and their fans, but the glory hunters are the reason many people think I am anti-Real Madrid. Which I assure you I am not.
I will never support Real Madrid, but it is not hard to respect a good team like theirs, as every football fan (the real kind) knows.
- By a die hard Barcelona fan (since 1999)
