There isn’t a more exhaustive match in the world than El Clasico — it consistently provides high-stakes, supercharged emotions and scintillating football from the world’s best players. It also has the distinction of pitting two clubs that loath one another in a physical, no-holds-barred and often controversial battle between international teammates.

Spain rely so heavily on drawing players from these two club that there’s always that boiling subplot to analyze and critique, especially as we approach another World Cup year. 

Lionel Messi's 500th Barcelona goal was scored in the 91st minute of El Clasico to defeat Real Madrid, 3-2. 

First, a note about the losers: Real Madrid were the better side for most of the game. They were more organized and more aggressive, even snatching an equalizer while playing with 10 men. It looked like Real would win it for a bit there, as they were entirely on the front foot in the latter stages of the game. But Real Madrid did not win this game. They did not win this game because they do not have Lionel Messi, and Barcelona do.

El Clasico is off to a hot start. It's 1-1 at the half via goals from Casemiro and Messi.

The Brazilian defensive midfielder opened the scoring with a rebound from a Sergio Ramos chance.

GOOOOAL!
@Casemiro opens the scoring as @mterstegen1 wipes egg from his face. #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/wkA4zYRkrq

El Clasico is this weekend, and we happen to have some Real Madrid and Barcelona partisans on the staff here at The18. So we asked Bryce (a Barcelona fan) and Javier (a Real Madrid fan) to write about why the opposing team will win on Sunday.

Why Real Madrid Will Win El Clasico

By Bryce Badwan

On Friday morning, the last Champions League draw of the season took place in Nyon, Switzerland to determine the semi-final matchups and gave us some very entertaining fixtures: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid and Monaco vs Juventus. As football fans, we are all one step closer to finding out which teams will play for Europe’s most lucrative trophy on June 3rd in Cardiff. Will the Champions League Final be played between:

Real Madrid - Monaco

Real Madrid - Juventus

Atletico Madrid - Monaco

Atletico Madrid - Juventus

Time Magazine has released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and there is a footballer on it. It's not Messi, or Ronaldo. It's Neymar. 

I agree with this. Neymar has had a great year: he won gold at the Rio Summer Olympics, got a bit part in xXx: the Return of Xander Cage, did some cool soccer stuff and kept things in perspective, if this tweet is to be believed.