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Mauro Pedrosa

Greatest Rivalry in Sports

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Which rivalry do you consider the greatest in sports history? Team rivalries and individual rivalries?

I'd have to go with Real Madrid vs Barcelona as teams and Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo for the individuals, followed closely by Magic vs Bird.

panoramic_barca23122017_019.jpg

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Real Madrid and Barcelona is definitely great, but I don't know if the personal rivalry is really there between Ronaldo and Messi. I think the individual rivalry between Bird and Magic was greater.

I think American sports is a bit harder to find the type of rivalries found in European football, as American sports are much more cyclical in nature with almost all teams spending some time at the top and some at the bottom. And there is nothing that fuels rivalry more than two teams trying to beat each other to the top.

While I don't care much about baseball, Yankees vs. Red Sox has to be up there. Lakers Vs Celtics. Can't think of any other very strong and historic rivalries in US sports.

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18 hours ago, Odin said:

Real Madrid and Barcelona is definitely great, but I don't know if the personal rivalry is really there between Ronaldo and Messi. I think the individual rivalry between Bird and Magic was greater.

I think American sports is a bit harder to find the type of rivalries found in European football, as American sports are much more cyclical in nature with almost all teams spending some time at the top and some at the bottom. And there is nothing that fuels rivalry more than two teams trying to beat each other to the top.

While I don't care much about baseball, Yankees vs. Red Sox has to be up there. Lakers Vs Celtics. Can't think of any other very strong and historic rivalries in US sports.

One that is always mentioned is Duke vs North Carolina.

Ali vs Frazier is also a great individual rivalry

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River Boca 

The Superclásico is known worldwide as one of the fiercest and most important derbies.[8] In April 2004, the English newspaper The Observer put the Superclásico at the top of their list of "50 sporting things you must do before you die", saying that "Derby day in Buenos Aires makes the Old Firm game look like a primary school kick-about",[9] in 2016 the British football magazine FourFourTwo considered it the "biggest derby in the world",[10] The Daily Telegraph ranked this match as the "biggest club rivalry in world football" in 2016,[11] and the Daily Mirror placed it #1 in The top 50 football derbies in the world, above El Clásico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid C.F., in 2017.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superclásico

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On 10/10/2018 at 8:42 PM, alwaystragic said:

River Boca 

The Superclásico is known worldwide as one of the fiercest and most important derbies.[8] In April 2004, the English newspaper The Observer put the Superclásico at the top of their list of "50 sporting things you must do before you die", saying that "Derby day in Buenos Aires makes the Old Firm game look like a primary school kick-about",[9] in 2016 the British football magazine FourFourTwo considered it the "biggest derby in the world",[10] The Daily Telegraph ranked this match as the "biggest club rivalry in world football" in 2016,[11] and the Daily Mirror placed it #1 in The top 50 football derbies in the world, above El Clásico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid C.F., in 2017.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superclásico

Boca vs River might be the biggest in terms of hatred for each other, but Real & Barça have a big edge in quality

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On 10/17/2018 at 8:17 AM, Mauro Pedrosa said:

Boca vs River might be the biggest in terms of hatred for each other, but Real & Barça have a big edge in quality

So, they will play the Copa Libertadores Finals against each other. The winner will go on to the FIFA Club World Cup in Dubai and probably face Real Madrid.

And they will beat Real Madrid.

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5 hours ago, alwaystragic said:

So, they will play the Copa Libertadores Finals against each other. The winner will go on to the FIFA Club World Cup in Dubai and probably face Real Madrid.

And they will beat Real Madrid.

That will be fun. I find it kinda odd that the Libertadores final is played in two matches but I'll watch

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5 hours ago, alwaystragic said:

It’s actually the last time it will happen.

from 2019 it will be a single match, like uefa cl.

I'm hearing that they won't allow opposing fans to attend each leg. Both teams came to an agreement.

It will really hurt the atmosphere but it goes to show you how much they hate each other

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6 hours ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

I'm hearing that they won't allow opposing fans to attend each leg. Both teams came to an agreement.

It will really hurt the atmosphere but it goes to show you how much they hate each other

This just goes to show you how far and behind we are from the first world.

There have not been opposing fans allowed in ANY football stadium during the last 5 years here.

Now they are slowly allowing it in some low key matches. Of course not for this.

The hatred is intense, but it is really stupid that people are getting hurt or killed over a simple football game. Barbaric society I live in.

On the other hand, this will be the first time that the final of Uefa CL or Copa Libertadores will be disputed by a truly classic match (there were some matches from the same country as altletico-real, chelsea-man u or dortmund-bayern but there has never been a real-barca, city-united, inter-ac milan, etc).

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On 11/7/2018 at 3:31 PM, alwaystragic said:

This just goes to show you how far and behind we are from the first world.

There have not been opposing fans allowed in ANY football stadium during the last 5 years here.

Now they are slowly allowing it in some low key matches. Of course not for this.

The hatred is intense, but it is really stupid that people are getting hurt or killed over a simple football game. Barbaric society I live in.

On the other hand, this will be the first time that the final of Uefa CL or Copa Libertadores will be disputed by a truly classic match (there were some matches from the same country as altletico-real, chelsea-man u or dortmund-bayern but there has never been a real-barca, city-united, inter-ac milan, etc).

1st leg was an amazing game. Imagine what that would've been like with supporters from both teams!

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