Not many things in football rile fans more than their star player leaving for their biggest rivals. And there’s not many places in the world where the fans are more passionate than Barcelona. So when Luis Figo left the Catalan club for arch-rivals Real Madrid you knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.

It was on the day in 2000 that Figo, fresh from an eye-catching Euro 2000 campaign with Portugal, was unveiled as the world’s most expensive signing, as he put pen to paper for Real in a £38 million pound deal.

His signing was the result of Florentino Perez’s Presidential election win that summer, as he had promised to refund all season ticket holders if he did not bring the Portuguese winger to the Bernabeu. This gamble paid off, and as promised Perez wasted no time in getting his man, bringing in one of the most exciting players in the world, and breaking the hearts of their biggest rivals in one fell swoop. This marked the start of Real’s Galácticos programme, that would see some of the biggest stars in the world, such as Zidane, Beckham and Ronaldo arrive at the club in the following three summers.

In what is know as the ‘gran clasica,’ the Real versus Barça rivalry is one of the most intense in the world. During the rule of Franco, the Nou Camp was the only place where residents of the suppressed Catalan region of Spain could show any local pride. Barcelona were the team of the people, whereas Real have historically been representative of the establishment, so el Derby is never short of passion.



Three months after the controversial transfer Figo returned to the Nou Camp wearing the all-white strip of Madrid. He sarcastically described it as “one the richest experiences of my life.” As expected, the Barça fans didn’t exactly role out the red carpet for their former-hero. Pro-Madrid newspaper Marca ran with the headline “Figo, they’re going to make your ears burn,” and they weren’t wrong. Judas chants, anti-Figo banners and missiles such as mobile phones, bricks, bicycle chains, and whiskey bottles from the crowd were the order of the day. Roberto Carlos rated the atmosphere as the most intense he’d ever played in. “I remember spending ninety minutes worrying about being hit by flying objects. All we wanted to do was get out if Barcelona alive,” he later said. With Figo staying well clear of the touchline and temporarily giving up his role of corner-taker to avoid the wrath of the Barça faithful, Real went down by two goals to nil. They might have fared better if only the whole team had had the attitude of Real’s favourite scouser Steve McManaman, who “thought it was a laugh. What other reaction can you have?”

See below for some rather gritty footage from an angry Nou Camp on one of Figo’s later visits, and play ’spot the decapitated farmyard animal’ while you’re at it.

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