Flick’s dominance measures Mourinho’s experience in the Classics

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid meet this Sunday at the Spotify Camp Nou in the first Clásico of the season, a match in which the German coach Hansi Flick will debut his rivalry with the Portuguese José Mourinho in a duel that he has been particularly good at since his arrival on the Barça bench.

Since Hansi Flick landed in the Catalan team for the 2024-2025 season, his team has practically swept national competitions and of the six titles it has contested, his Barça has won five – two Leagues, two Super Cups and a Copa del Rey -, a dominance that also carried over to direct confrontations against its biggest rival, Real Madrid.

In total, the German has led the ‘culer’ team seven times in a Classic, with a record of seven wins and only one defeat. Precisely, the setback would come last year in the first round of LaLiga EA Sports, when Xabi Alonso’s Real Madrid surpassed them with solvency at the Santiago Bernabéu, despite the short 2-1 result. A defeat that would be avenged in the second round with a 2-0 at the Camp Nou, which also gave them the title.

But beyond the victories, it is the authority he has had in many of them that means that, since the arrival of the German, Barça confidently faces the duels against Real Madrid, who in previous years had been the dominator. In fact, in the seven matches, the current champion has scored three or more goals in five of them, with the 0-4 in the League in 2024-25 and the 2-5 in the 2025 Super Cup being the largest victories. The 3-2 in the 2025 Copa del Rey final, the 4-3 in the second round of the league and the 3-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final complete their positive statistics.

And to put an end to the current Barça hegemony, as happened in 2010, Real Madrid has once again turned to José Mourinho. On that occasion, Guardiola’s Barça was coming off a treble, two consecutive leagues and two Copas del Rey, absolutely dominating Spanish football. But the arrival of the Setubal player would mean a paradigm shift, even though his first Clásico ended in a painful ‘little hand’ at the Camp Nou (5-0), in what until now remains his heaviest defeat against Barça.

However, that season would come Real Madrid’s first victory against Barça since 2008. It would be in the final of the Copa del Rey, where the whites once again lifted a title after two blank years in the famous Clásico carousel with four almost consecutive after winning 1-0 in extra time with a header from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Despite this, Mourinho would go on to seven Clásicos without winning against the Catalans – four defeats and three draws between the first leg and the second leg of the 2010-2011 Champions League semi-finals, the 2011-2012 Cup quarter-finals, the 2011 Super Cup and the first round of the League -, just before returning to victory in the second round of the League. 2011-2012 at the Camp Nou (1-2). A victory that sealed the title for the meringues and ended the hegemony of Guardiola, who left Barça that year.

There began a remarkable streak for Real Madrid against its greatest rival. And the fact is that in the next six Clásicos, the last of José Mourinho, the Madrid team would win three of them, drawing another two and losing in only one. Furthermore, the defeat had a happy ending, since it would take place in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup (3-2), a final that would be turned around at the Santiago Bernabéu with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín (2-1).

In fact, since that victory José Mourinho has not been defeated by FC Barcelona again, going five Clásicos without losing – three wins and two draws -. An end to his first stage with Real Madrid in which he was able to turn around an unfavorable balance of one victory in his first 10 games – five losses and four draws – with four wins, two draws and one defeat in the last seven. In total, 17 Clásicos, with five wins, six draws and six losses.

This coming Sunday the first chapter of the new rivalry between Hansi Flick and José Mourinho will be written, a duel between two veteran coaches that hardly has a precedent. It will be the second after the one that faced Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur in the group stage of the Champions League in the 2019-20 season. A match that would end in a 3-1 Bavarian victory thanks to goals from Coman, Müller and Coutinho.