On Sunday, Real Madrid and Barcelona square off in the 177th league edition of El Clasico, the greatest rivalry match in all of sports. Real leads the all-time series with 72 La Liga victories as compared to Barca’s 70 (the two sides have shared the spoils an additional 34 times), and the club from the Spanish capital desperately needs another victory to reduce the currently escalating gap in league play.
Both clubs are off to less than stellar starts (by their standards) in LaLiga as Barcelona hold a 1 points advantage atop the table, while Real Madrid sit in 7th place, 4 points behind their rivals.
And so Sunday's match (11:15 a.m. ET | fuboTV, beIN SPORTS) comes with the customary high drama despite the match being the first edition without Lionel Messi (broken arm) and Cristiano Ronaldo.
With the can’t-miss match fast approaching, here are 18 truths we'll be experiencing between now and the final whistle through El Clasico GIFs.
The prematch hype is intense, so you try to stay calm and make it through the week ...
But if you support the Blaugrana, you're feeling ...
And if you're a Madridista ...
Ain't nothing wrong with some pregame bantz ...
Until it's game time and you find that perfect stream ...
So we can finally stop all the Messi vs. Ronaldo nonsense (since they aren't in it) and focus on two of the greatest teams on the planet ...
Except for that one friend that won't step yelling at the TV ...
You know it's only a matter of minutes until that first completely unexpected moment in El Clasico ...
But then those moments start coming fast and furious ...
And we're treated to outlandish skill ...
After outlandish skill ...
Because this is the fixture where the world's best come out to play ...
And it never disappoints ...
Except for some of the theatrics ...
But even those are extremely memorable ...
And in the end, it'll be decided by an absolute piece of magic ...
Although you'll still have that friend that says the EPL is better ...
If Barca win ...
If Real Madrid win ...