Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona, Real Madrid, and the World's Greatest Sports Rivalry

by Sid Lowe

Overview

Fear and Loathing in La Liga is the definitive history of the greatest rivalry in world sport: FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. It's Messi vs. Ronaldo, Guardiola vs. Mourinho, the nation against the state, freedom fighters vs. Franco's fascists, plus majestic goals and mesmerizing skills. It's the best two teams on the planet going head-to-head. It's more than a game. It's a war. It's El Clàco.

Only, it's not quite that simple. Spanish soccer expert and historian Sid Lowe covers 100 years of rivalry, athletic beauty, and excellence. Fear and Loathing in La Liga is a nuanced, revisionist, and brilliantly informed history that goes beyond sport. Lowe weaves together this story of the rivalry with the history and culture of Spain, emphasizing that it is "never about just the soccer." With exclusive testimonies and astonishing anecdotes, he takes us inside this epic battle, including the wounds left by the Civil War, Madrid's golden age in the fifties when they won five European cups, Johan Cruyff's Barcelona Dream Team, the doomed Galàico experiment, and LuÃ-Figo's "betrayal."

By exploring the history, politics, culture, economics, and language -- while never forgetting the drama on the field -- Lowe demonstrates the relationship between these two soccer giants and reveals the true story behind their explosive rivalry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568584508
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	04/08/2014
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	266,560
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Sid Lowe is a historian and expert on Spanish soccer and history. He has written for the Guardian since 2001 and regularly appears on the Guardian's soccer podcast, Football Weekly. He writes for World Soccer, FourFourTwo, and ESPN, and is a commentator and panelist on UK, Spanish, and Asian television and radio. Follow him on Twitter @sidlowe.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

A Note on Currency and Language xiii

1 The Morning After 1

2 The Night Before 3

3 The Martyr President 24

4 The Forgotten President 38

5 Exorcism 57

6 Don Santiago 81

7 The House That László Built 95

8 The Signing of the Century 114

9 Blond Arrow 135

10 HH: The Original Special One 155

11 The Best Embassy We Ever Had 180

12 The Whistle-Blower 206

13 Johan Cruyff Superstar 224

14 The Vulture Squad 253

15 Dream Team 277

16 Nunca posinfo 310

17 Thirty-Two Years Later 328

18 And Pigs Did Fly 348

19 The Ballboy and the Translator 378

Acknowledgments 419

Bibliography 423

List of Illustrations 429

Index 431

Editorial Reviews

"Excellent" --Bleacher Report

From the Publisher