Ah, the Clasico.

The biggest game in club football. A pathway to greatness and a season-defining clash that has carved names into legend. The match between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi is the social media troll's ultimate opportunity to comment 'Penaldo' or 'Pessi' underneath a post about either of them being brilliant.

Saturday's upcoming fixture at the Bernabéu already looks vitally important for the rest of the campaign. Madrid will pull level with Barca at the top of La Liga if they win, but Barca have the opportunity to open a six-point gap if they can grab three points.

With Ronaldo and Messi long gone, this is now a fixture of the next generation. Can Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham or Lamine Yamal make their mark? Will Kylian Mbappé, if fit, prove crucial?

While we ponder the prospect ahead, let's bathe in the welcome stink of the old times and remember what makes the Clasico so special.

Honourable Mentions

Barcelona 5-0 Madrid, 2010: David Villa stole the show with a brilliant brace as Barca stomped José Mourinho's Madrid to dust. It was the worst defeat of the Portuguese manager's career at that point and he called Barca "fantastic" for the clinic they put on.

Barcelona 2-2 Madrid, 2012: Messi and Ronaldo netted a brace each, going punch-for-punch in a hard-fought draw.

Barcelona 5-1 Madrid, 2018: A devastating hat-trick from Luis Suárez saw the 'MSN' era flex its ridiculous muscle.

Madrid 3-2 Barcelona, 2023: Jude Bellingham scored a late winner in his debut season en route to Madrid's treble win.

10. Madrid 2-6 Barcelona, 2009

A stunning moment in the launching of Pep Guardiola as the manager of the 21st century.

Barca ran rampant in the Spanish capital, with braces from Thierry Henry and Messi leading the way.

Madrid were completely dismantled and often frazzled by Pep's tiki-taka, with Xavi's creativity splitting the defence on multiple occasions. Iker Casillas actually had an excellent match–making multiple point-blank saves–in a thumping that led to Pep landing a historic treble in his first year in charge.

9. Mourinho's Eye Poke Madness, 2012

From Pep's brilliance to…one of the things that makes José Mourinho brilliant entertainment.

It's easy to forget a rather important match played out around the incident which saw Mourinho sneak up on late Barca assistant Tito Vilanova and plant a finger straight into his unsuspecting eyeball.

That match was the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup final, a tie that Barca won 5-4 on aggregate thanks to Messi's winner. However, a legendary brawl, four red cards and Mourinho's bad behaviour lives on most prominently in the memory. It couldn't be more José if it tried.

8. Ronaldo Wins the Spanish Cup, 2011

Talking of things that are very Mourinho; winning your first trophy as Madrid manager after keeping Barcelona scoreless for 120 minutes is pretty up there.

Although his Los Blancos side often broke free of the defensive tactics he's best known for, this was a pure Mourinho masterclass, defined by nullifying the opposition and allowing one man to step up with the winner.

Ronaldo hung in the air and steered a perfect header into the net, scoring the only goal of the game in extra time to take home the silverware. It set Mourinho in motion for a total of three trophies with the club and a record-breaking 2011-12, in which his side set La Liga records for most points (100), most wins (32) and most goals (124).

7. Messi's Stunning Goal, 2011

There's very few words worth saying that can do this goal justice.

Messi picked up the ball on the halfway line, burst forwards at ridiculous pace, beat four Madrid defenders and slotted beyond a helpless Casillas, wrapping up Barca's route to the 2011 Champions League final, in which they beat Manchester United.

It's the kind of goal that would infuriate fantasy football players, with Sergio Busquets picking up the easiest assist of all time. Wonderful stuff.

6. Messi's First Barca Hat Trick, 2007

A coming of age moment. If you didn't know about 19-year-old Lionel Messi before this, you did afterwards.

Partnered by Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o, Messi stole the show in the 3-3 draw with Madrid after bagging all three of his side's goals with the first of his 44 hat-tricks for Barcelona. Not a bad place to start.

His lethal finishing and exquisite touch was on full show as the Camp Nou witnessed the birth of a god who would go on to define their club, and the sport, for the next 15 years.

5. Bale Sends Bartra to the Neverrealm, 2014

Put some respect on Gareth Bale's name.

The Welshman had some truly ridiculous moments in a Madrid shirt; could you imagine the response if Messi or Ronaldo scored the bicycle kick that Bale beat Liverpool with in the 2018 Champions League final?

The former Spurs man had already proven he was a clutch player for Madrid. Just ask Marc Bartra, who a decade later, is still chasing Bale down the touchline in order to stop his electric turn of pace and winner in the Spanish cup final.

Bale sprinted off the pitch and back again to reach the ball, making a meme out of Bartra who had actually scored Barca's equaliser just 15 minutes prior.

It's one of those moments that replay over and over in your head, the super slow-mo of his touch beyond the defender, the helplessness when the winger is long gone.

Bale's career may have waned in the latter days but he was a truly remarkable player in his prime.

4. Fan Throws Pig Head at Figo, 2002

A lot of the moments on this list feature beautiful football. This one features the head of a pig.

Players don't often move from Barcelona to Real Madrid. Portuguese superstar Luís Figo did just that, and in November 2002, was subject to a bombardment of missiles as he lined up to take corners in his old backyard at the Camp Nou.

Barca fans rained down cups, coins and whatever they could get their hands on. Someone out there had a spare severed head knocking about and decided to lob it Figo's way as he readied another set piece.

Sensing the hate of the Barca ultras, the referee suspended proceedings and players such as Puyol tried to calm the stadium down. There's not many matches where you're more likely to remember a pig's head was thrown at a player than the result. It finished 0-0. Yawn.

What exactly does the 'best' in 'best moments' mean? Whatever the definition, Figo and the pig's head remains one of the most iconic images in football; a snapshot of the rivalry at its most fierce.

3. Ronaldo Calms the Camp Nou, 2012

Ronaldo had a lot of great moments against Barcelona. None of them stand up to his brilliant 'calma calma' celebration in 2012. With the score tied at 1-1 with 73 minutes played, Ronaldo timed a devastating run beyond the Barca defence, latching on to a brilliant Mesut Özil pass, drawing Victor Valdes out and slotting home to all but seal the title.

CR7 jogged off, slapped his hand down, pointed to himself and told the rival stadium to calm down, basically saying: 'I'm the man. There's nothing to worry about. This game is done.'

It says something about Ronaldo that he went on to popularise an even more famous celebration in the 'siuuu' we now see across other sports, or when someone successfully ties their shoes first time.

But 'calma calma,' with the arrogant scrunch of the face and cockiness on enemy territory, is where it's at.

2. Madrid Fans Respect Ronaldinho, 2005

Ronaldinho is one of those players that makes me wonder if modern footballers are allowed to be as expressive as the old guard. We live in a world of ultra-detailed, nitty gritty tactics. He was a player who would receive the ball and just be allowed to show us something special.

Unfortunately for a young Sergio Ramos, he did that in legendary fashion as Barcelona destroyed Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabéu.

Ronaldinho was the constant out ball in a second half that saw him twist and turn Ramos into disarray. His pace and directness added a stunning brace to Eto'o's opener, but it's what happened next that made it an extra special night.

Madrid fans stood up from their seats and applauded.

The ultimate sign of respect, an individual performance so good even die-hard rivals felt the need to acknowledge it. On a list heavily made up of Ronaldo and Messi, it goes some way to highlight Ronaldinho's brilliance that only he and Diego Maradona have received such recognition in this heated feud.

1. Messi's Shirt Celebration, 2017

Take the main ingredients of this list, scramble them together, and you've got Messi's moment in Barcelona's 3-2 win at the Bernabéu in 2017.

His last-minute winner–a brilliant curl home from the edge of the box–silenced the home fans, who then had to watch on as the Argentina hero whipped off his shirt and held it aloft for all to see. It was his second goal of the game and the 500th of his career that ended a run of six matches without scoring against Madrid.

In my mind, the celebration is elevated even more by Ronaldo copying it a few months later as Madrid won the Super Cup at the Camp Nou. Particularly as CR7 received a yellow card for it and would then be sent off after a second booking later on. That's some chess from Messi.

Leo's Clasico debut actually came in the aforementioned Ronaldinho game, so for him to reach such an incredible milestone and coldly stick it to Madrid supporters while ending a barren streak against them remains as iconic as it gets.

The snapshot of him lifting the shirt aloft–staring into the eyes of the enemy–will endure forever.