With little room for dissention, El Clasico is the richest annual clash between two teams in the sports world — more than the Super Bowl, more than the World Series and even more than the Champions League final. Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two most valuable clubs in the world and their rivalry is likewise one of the grandest events on the calendar.
But how do the two clubs compare in value once they take the pitch? We took a look at the values of each team’s starting XI.
While we could use the lineups predicted by The18 prognosticator Connor Fleming, we’ll spice things up by going with the best possible lineup for each squad, ignoring injuries. We’ll use the market values assigned by TransferMarkt.com.
Note that these transfer values are not what it would take to purchase these players (their buyout clauses are set much higher). It is simply the website’s valuation for the players, which is much closer to their worth than the astronomical fees being paid for players lately.
Barcelona’s starting lineup will include the injured Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti, who won’t be healthy for El Clasico on Saturday.
Thanks to Messi’s immense value (€120 million), Barcelona’s total starting XI value is €520 million. Luis Suarez is the next-most expensive player at €90 million while Semedo is the least expensive player at €20 million, which is more than anyone on West Ham’s roster.
As for Real Madrid’s lineup, we’re going to go ahead and slot Gareth Bale in, even though he’s injured more often than not lately. This doesn’t leave any room for Isco (€40 million) or Marco Asensio (€30 million), but we think Zinedine Zidane is fine with bringing those two off this hypothetical bench.
While Cristiano Ronaldo’s value is listed at €20 million less than Messi, his team’s total value reaches the astronomical value of €543, even with the least-valuable El Clasico player on the pitch, goalkeeper Keylor Navas (CONCACAF players never get any love).
Real Madrid’s value is a full Keita Balde (€23 million) more than Barcelona’s value, a fairly significant sum for most clubs but a difference of only 5 percent of Real Madrid’s total value.
Barcelona holds a slight edge in value on the front line, with €243 combined for Messi, Suarez and Dembele compared to €240 Ronaldo, Bale and Karim Benzema.
Barcelona’s midfield value is slightly underrepresented because Andres Iniesta’s age dropped his assessment to €20 million, but the old man can still play. Toni Kroos (€70 million, third highest among the world’s midfielders) helps Los Blancos own the midfield by €15 million.
Real Madrid’s defense is €18 million more valuable than Barcelona’s, with Sergio Ramos and Marcelo both in the top 10 of most valuable defenders in the world.
Despite Real Madrid’s slight edge in value on the pitch, Barcelona has a comfortable lead atop the La Liga table. Real Madrid is 11 points back (with a game in hand) heading into Saturday’s El Clasico.
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