'Bigger than the Super Bowl!' Barcelona and Real Madrid go into promotional overdrive ahead of preseason Clasico

The game in Miami is the first game outside of Spain between the two sides for 35 years

Kieran Canning
Miami
Friday 28 July 2017 16:47 BST
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Zidane will lead Real against Barca three times before the La Liga season starts
Zidane will lead Real against Barca three times before the La Liga season starts

"A Clasico is a Clasico, even if it's a friendly you have to win it," Ivan Rakitic admirably argued ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid's first meeting on foreign soil for 35 years, trying to stay on message with the spin his employers and their rivals have used to hype a pre-season clash into a bonanza of publicity events in Miami over the weekend designed to leave the world in no uncertain terms as to who are the two biggest clubs in the world.

The 65,000 Hard Rock stadium could have been sold out many times over with Miami Dolphins owner and International Champions Cup organiser Stephen Ross claiming tickets have been easier to shift than for his NFL franchise. The cheapest tickets still left on the secondary market are fetching $250 with more luxurious packages reaching 10 times that amount. A Miami Herald article this week was titled: "Is El Clasico Miami as big as hosting a Super Bowl? Don't be ridiculous. It's bigger."

Such demand reinforces Madrid and Barcelona's self-belief that for all the Premier League's cash rich elite, they remain the biggest draw across the planet, but the fact both clubs finally agreed to the fixture at a time they could really do without it reveals the doubts that have been created by the Premier League's record breaking TV deals.

Madrid need to get up to speed quickly and have just 180 minutes of pre-season left before they face a daunting eight-day stretch to start their campaign for real against Manchester United for the UEFA Super Cup and Barca twice more in the Spanish Super Cup.

Meanwhile, the saga of Neymar's will he, won't he move to PSG has dominated Barca's tour of the States - not helped by the fact the Brazilian has scored all three of his side's goals in victories over Juventus and PSG.

For the first time since Neymar's compatriot Ronaldo left Barca for Inter Milan in 1997, one of Spain's two giants faces the prospect of losing one of its star assets abroad. It is a scenario both clubs have feared could be coming, they just didn't expect the destination could be Paris rather than England.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has repeatedly warned the Premier League could become "the NBA of football" unless Spain's TV contracts begin to close the gap on the billions generated by the appeal of Premier League's competitive balance around the world.

But what La Liga lacks in an equality of revenue from top to bottom, it makes up for in star power - at least for now. Whilst Cristiano Ronaldo has been Madrid's big miss both on the field in defeats to both Manchester clubs and as a marketing tool off it, Barca have put forward all of their star names for maximum exposure in Miami.

Messi and Neymar are just two of the stars Barcelona are heavily using for press events

Despite the circus surrounding his future, Neymar is due to appear at a Nike event with vice-presidents Jordi Mestre and Manel Arroyo, whilst Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta are among those that will meet and greet supporters at the Casa Clasico weekend long fan fest.

So far that push appears to be working. Barca have drawn crowds of over 80,000 in New York and Washington, whilst Pep Guardiola described Man City as "playing an away game" as Madrid supporters provided the vast majority of a record 93,000 crowd for a football match at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum as City ran out 4-1 winners on Wednesday.

"Madrid and Barcelona are the more exciting teams in the world," admitted Guardiola. "Maybe in the future we can seduce more people to follow us."

Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu met with Barrack Obama as the former US president was in attendance for the Catalans' clash with United in the country's capital where the possibility of Barca launching a women's team in the US was discussed.

The Clasico's brand appeal means tickets are even on sale at $20 apiece just to watch the teams train on Friday, whilst some of the more bizarre events surrounding the fixture included a UFC "Combate Clasico" on Thursday where Madrid and Barca rivalries were played out in the Octagon and the stars of the show on Saturday are even expected to put their hostilities aside for a glamorous after party on Miami beach following the game.

Both clubs have tried their best to sell the game in Rakitic's words, as a Clasico as usual, but it is no normal occasion. Whilst there is far less at stake on the field, the hard sell off it shows that however much they hate to admit it, Madrid and Barca need each other to maintain their status as world football's superpowers.

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