Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Man Utd vs Liverpool: Football's top 30 greatest rivalries

Real Madrid welcome Barcelona to the Bernabeu on Sunday evening for the latest installment of El Clasico.

In what will always endure as one of the sport’s most-watched games, the Spanish giants will do battle to see if Real can continue their recent dominance or if Barcelona can deliver the biggest result of Xavi’s reign so far.

Los Blancos won the opening La Liga meeting of the season with a 2-1 triumph at Camp Nou, before needing extra time to get the better of the Blaugrana in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals.

However, no matter what happens in the Spanish capital this weekend, there’s no escaping the fact that millions of people around the world will be tuning in to watch one of football’s biggest rivalries either way.

Besides, for what the two clubs lack in proximity to one another, they certainly make up for with a cocktail of history, prestige and dare we say hatred that always makes El Clasico compulsive viewing.

As much as the heady days of regular Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi clashes might be over, Real vs Barcelona will always be a game that prickles you with goosebumps when you see it on the fixture list.

In fact, such is the legendary status of El Clasico within footballing folklore that fans have voted the fixture as the sport’s greatest rivalry of all time.

Interactive ranking website thetoptens.com has a fascinating list on the ‘Top 10 Greatest Soccer Rivalries’ where supporters can cast their vote on which footballing match-up they consider to be the best.

The criteria? Well, the caption of the list simply reads as “The fiercest and most exciting rivalries in all of soccer,” so a mixture of passion and entertainment seems to be the order of the day.

And in a fascinating list that extends beyond