Most major leagues have huge rivalries between teams from different cities, that in many ways define football in that country. In England, it is Manchester United v Liverpool. Italy has the Derby d’Italia which pits record champions Juventus with Milan rivals Inter. And the most famous of them all, Real Madrid and Barclona, whose tie has become a byword for heated rivalry. So with the marketing success of El Clasico, it’s not that surprising that other countries have followed suit. In France, they have Le Classique, between PSG and Marseille. The Netherlands has De Klassieker, the fiery affair between Ajax and Feyenoord (earlier this season, quite literally). And in Germany, there is Der Klassiker, the much hyped but often underwhelming meeting between Bayern and Dortmund. Unlike the other ‘classics’, which have swung between one side’s dominance and the other’s, or even been a close fought affair in almost all cases, Der Klassiker underwhelms because, however good Dortmund have been in the season to that point, however close they are to success, they almost never turn up. The same was true on Saturday.
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