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PM Modi on Barcelona’s win over Real Madrid

Tuesday, 29 Oct, 2024
Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat on home soil to bitter rival Barcelona in the latest edition of El Clasico. (Photo courtesy: X@FCBarcelona)

Vadodara: The buzz surrounding Barcelona’s recent 4-0 routing of Real Madrid was at an all-time high as the Catalonians secured a historic victory. In a speech after the roadshow, where Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was present, PM Narendra Modi went on to claim the intensity of the rivalry between the fan bases of both teams in India is equivalent to how it is in Spain. 

"Spanish football is liked a lot in India. In the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the discussions were held in India too. Barcelona's brilliant win was a subject of discussion here as well. I can also tell you that there was as much banter between the fans of the two clubs in India, as it would've been in Spain," PM Modi said during his speech at the event.

The recent El Clasico victory for Barcelona was a significant one. The club has been flying under the regime of Hansi Flick and is quickly establishing themselves as the team to beat in Europe.

After a highly intense first half in which the deadlock had remained intact, the floodgates opened fast through a quickfire brace by Robert Lewandowski which was followed by goals by Lamine Yamal, who became the youngest goal scorer in Clasico history, and Raphinha to impose the heavy defeat at Real Madrid’s fortress, the Santiago Bernabeu

Before the game against Real Madrid, Barca had also defeated their German rivals, FC Bayern Munich 4-1 in yet another emphatic victory.

The win was of great significance for another reason. Poetically, Barcelona’s win not only ended Real Madrid’s historic 42-game unbeaten run but also in the process preserved their record of the longest unbeaten streak in La Liga history which is a 43-match streak by Ernesto Valverde's Barcelona between 2017 and 2018.