Champions Travel

Historic Rivalries in football, and their top clashes

Nothing in football gets the heart racing quite like a local derby. This weekend the Premier League is back in action after two weeks off. The fixtures will treat us some of the biggest and most historic derbies in Premier League history, including the North London Derby (Arsenal vs Tottenham) and the Manchester Derby (Manchester City vs Manchester Utd).

Historic football rivalries divide communities and even families, a win against your biggest rival means so much more than any other. And a win over local rivals can lead to weeks or even years of bragging rights.

We’ve decided to start the excitement early by looking at some the most ferocious rivalries in football and their most memorable matches.

The North London Derby

The North London Derby is one of the oldest rivalries in English football. The first true North London Derby was contested in 1913 when Arsenal moved to Highbury Stadium, just 4 miles from Tottenham’s White Hart Lane. This encroachment onto Tottenham’s territory laid the groundworks for one of football’s most exciting rivalries.

The North London Derby is renowned for high quality attacking football, along with some shocking defending! The 2008 classic derby had lashings of both, with a screamer of a goal from David Bentley opening the scoring and plenty of last-minute drama, including a 95^th minute equaliser. What more could you want from a derby?

The two clubs have spent the last few seasons swapping Champions League qualification between them and they have never been in such direction competition, meaning the stakes have never been so high. Currently only 1 point separates the North London rivals and with both teams looking to sustain a top-4 challenge, they will see Saturday’s game as a great opportunity to gain the initiative.

View Spurs v Arsenal packages HERE.
 

The Old Firm

The most passionate footballing rivalries often echo deeper divides in the communities supporting the clubs. There is no better example of this than the historic rivalry between the two Glasgow based clubs, Celtic and Rangers. The history of the clubs is steeped in religious, political and social rivalries rooted in the area. The rivalries explode onto the pitch, and off it, with passionate football and intense results.

While the quality of Old Firm football has not always matched Premier League standards, the passion of the fans is unmatched. As Paolo Di Canio said, “You could take all the derby matches in the world and put them together and they still wouldn't equal one-millionth of the Old Firm.”

It is hard to believe that classic 6-2 Celtic victory over Rangers, dubbed the ‘demolition derby’, was more than 20 years ago!  But when you look back at some of the dodgy tackles you will find it a bit easier to believe.

The Manchester Derby

The Manchester Derby, contested between Manchester City and Manchester United since 1881, has always been ferocious, but the heat has really turned up in the last decade since Man City’s run of recent success. To add fuel to the fire, City’s success has coincided with a downturn in fortunes for United.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who presided over Man United during their glory days, bringing home 38 trophies including 13 Premier League wins, once famously labelled Man City as the “noisy neighbours”. Yet, with 5 premier league titles all coming in the last decade, City are hot on United’s heels with no sign of abating.

Your favourite Manchester Derby will be swayed by the colour of your shirt, but nobody can dispute that the 2009 meeting at Old Trafford was truly spectacular.

Fresh out of a transfer window where they had splashed out £100m+ on talent like Emmanuel Adebayor and former United player Carlos Tevez, City headed to Old Trafford keen to make a statement about their championship ambitions. The game was a nail-biting thriller at 3-3, but Manchester City were denied any glory when Michael Owen scored a winning goal in the 96^th minute of Fergie time (extra time).

The Manchester Derby has a reputation for providing some of the most memorable moments in Premier League history, from Wayne Rooney’s bicycle kick to Mario Balotelli’s ‘Why always me?’. What will be in store for us this weekend?

View Man United v Man City packages HERE.

El Clásico

Just like the Old Firm rivalry, the long-standing animosity between Real Madrid and Barcelona has its roots in national politics. Since its inception, Madrid has been the team of the Spanish government and royal family, (Real is Spanish word for Royal) whereas Barcelona have never made a secret of their affiliation with the Catalan independence movement.

Both teams have long stood in the upper echelons of European football which means that we’ve had the pleasure of seeing this rivalry played out by the best players and on the biggest stage.

The rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid has reached boiling point multiple times over the decades. When much loved Barcelona star Luis Figo left the club to join Real Madrid in 2000 it made him a pariah.

There was so much animosity towards Figo that when the Portuguese legend returned to the Camp Nou in 2002 the match had to be suspended because a disgruntled Barca supporter threw a severed pig’s head at him when he went to take a corner.

This extreme level of dislike bled from the terraces onto the pitch and by the early 2010’s when Real Madrid were managed by Jose Mourinho and Barcelona by Pep Guardiola, El Clásico often descended into a display of bad sportsmanship and amateur dramatics.

By 2013, both managers had moved on and we were treated to what is arguably the best El Clasico ever. The game showcased the very best of superstars including Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar Jr. Some of the dramatics were left behind, but the game still came with three penalties and the obligatory Sergio Ramos red card!

View El Classico packages HERE.
 

The Merseyside Derby

The Merseyside Derby, contested between Premier League giants Liverpool FC and Everton, used to be referred to as the ‘friendly derby.’ This seems unbelievable now considering in recent years this rivalry has become one of the most explosive in the Premier League.  

The Merseyside Derby has seen more red cards than any other fixture since the Premier League’s inception in 1992. A massive 20 players have been sent off at either Goodison Park or Anfield during a derby game, and there have been multiple games with more than one red card.

Local talents such as Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Leighton Baines have intensified the excitement by taking on leading roles in their hometown clubs. Local boys representing their local clubs fuels the passion of the community and fans, leading to fireworks on the pitch.

This tradition is set to continue with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Everton’s Anthony Gordon. Both players are products of their respective club’s youth academies and they will be keen to make an impact in the next Merseyside Derby.

Arguably the most memorable Merseyside Derby in Premier League History was in 2001, when Liverpool visited Goodison Park. It was 2-2 as the game headed into stoppage time; in an exciting game where there had been 4 Goals, 12 yellow cards, 2 penalties and 1 red card, the excitement was not over yet!

There was late drama when Liverpool’s Gary McAllister scored a memorable free kick in the 94^th minute to take the points and the bragging rights to the red side of the Mersey.

View Liverpool v Everton packages HERE.

What can we look forward to this weekend?

The exciting thing about derby days and intense rivalries is that you never know what is going to happen. With all the pent-up excitement and the energy of the crowd, form and talent go out of the window. It is a day that transcends league tables, even if you are at the bottom of the table, all will be forgiven if you can smash your local rivals.

It becomes a question of who can stand the pressure, and who will lose their head.

What history can be made this weekend?

Share