Hundreds of millions of football fans across the world will be tuning in to watch the second LaLiga Santander El Clasico of the 2018/19 season, with Barcelona set to visit Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu this Saturday. It’s a game that has a truly international flavour both on and off the pitch.
El Clasico features the very best players from all over the world. In fact, there are 16 different nationalities represented between the two great rivals’ squads, featuring the very best players from across Europe, Africa, Central America and South America.
Specifically, the 16 nations with players in the current Barcelona and Real Madrid squads are Spain, Brazil, France, Germany, Wales, Belgium, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Argentina, Portugal, Chile, Holland, Colombia and Ghana.
Spain is the nation with the most representatives; Real Madrid have 12 Spanish players in their squad, while Barcelona have six. Following Spain are France and Brazil, each boasting seven players, conjuring up some interesting duels between players who won the 2018 World Cup together. Barcelona have Samuel Umtiti, Clément Lenglet, Jean-Clair Todibo and Ousmane Dembélé on their books, while Real Madrid have Luca Zidane, Raphaël Varane and Karim Benzema. For LaLiga fans in the South American nation, they’ll see Real Madrid stars Marcelo, Casemiro and Vinícius Junior taking on Blaugrana foes but compatriots Arthur, Rafinha, Philippe Coutinho and Malcom. Read more