10 players that have played for both sides in 'El Clasico'

We’ve created a list of 10 players that managed to play for both Real Madrid and Barcelona in ‘El Clasico’.

Ronaldo

The Brazilian became a global star during his time at Barcelona, scoring an impressive 47 goals in 49 games for the club. After five years away in Italy with AC Milan, Ronaldo made his return to the Spanish capital and played in seven ‘El Clasico’s' and managed to score four times.

Luis Figo

This Portugese footballer managed to play numerous clasico’s for Barcelona, and was the decisive figure in many of them. After changing his shirt for white in 2000, he spent the next five years with ‘los blancos’ and was never well-recieved whenever he returned to the Camp Nou.

Alfonso Pérez

The attack was showing great potential at the ‘White House’ and was the number one candidate to replace Butragueño. However as injuries hit the player, and the emergence of Raul, doors closed behind the player and he ended up at Betis. He was almost all dried up when he signed for Barca, who ended up paying a very small fee.

Luis Enrique

The current Barcelona manager knows what it’s like to play (and score) for both sides of an ‘El Clasico’ match. He was one of Madrid's goal-scorers in the famous 5-0 thrashing of Barcelona in 1995, and then constantly crushed the white net in other Madrid-Barca encounters.

Albert Celades

Having grown up through the Barca youth academy and Louis Van Gaal’s golden boy he was finally given the boot and sent away to Celta. After a short stint at Celta he was picked up by Real Madrid. For Barca, he played in a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu and a 3-0 win at the Camp Nou, and for Madrid a 2-0 and 3-0 win at the Camp Nou and a 4-2 victory at the Bernabeu.

Gheorghe Hagi

This Romanian arrived to Spain at the hands of Real Madrid, where he played an amazing season, however he wasn’t the super star that many expected him to be at the Bernabeu. After spending a few years in Italy, the Romanian arrived at Barcelona, where he made even less of an impact. He played for both teams in ‘El Clasico’.

Michael Laudrup

This Danish footballer was part of Cruyff’s ´Dream Team’ for Barcelona, but after a couple of seasons, the Dutch manager slowly lost faith in the player. After being the main protagonist in many ‘El Clasico’ victories, including the 5-0 thrashing in 1993, the player decided to move away from the club, perhaps for revenge, to its arch rivals. 

Luis Milla

Johan Cruyff created the position of the central-midfielder after Luis Milla came up through Barcelona’s academy. Subsequently the footballer lost his place in the team, and not without controversy moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid, where he played the bulk of his career. He won for both sides playing in ‘El Clasico’ however he shone more at Madrid. 

Nando Muñoz

This player joined Barcelona on loan from Seville, and played two seasons for the club, even managing to make it to the final of the European Cup at Wembley against Sampdoria. In a strange deal, the Andalusian team repurchased the player, however the player paid the buy-out-clause and managed to move to Real Madrid for free. He played on either side for many ‘El Clasico’s’ but the best years of his career were spent with Barcelona. 

Bernd Schuster

The German arrived as a star in Barcelona, and acted as such on and off the field. After a large amount of controversy, and with a bad relationship with the club and his teammates, the German left on a free transfer to Real Madrid. He managed to achieve high levels during his time at the Spanish capital, and he then moved on to Spain’s third biggest club Atletico Madrid for three seasons.