Real Madrid’s first league visit to The Cathedral

On June 23 1929, San Mamés hosted Real Madrid for the first ever time in a LaLiga match. It was the last match of the season, and Athletic ended up winning 2-0 thanks to goals by Unamuno and Carmelo.

The two clubs -neither of which, along with FC Barcelona, has ever been relegated to the Segunda Division- have played a total 90 league clashes at San Mamés. It should also be remembered that they would have played each other more times if the championship hadn’t been suspended between the 35-36 and 39-40 seasons due to the Spanish Civil War.

The win on that 1929 afternoon has been repeated on another 37 occasions, with 19 draws and 33 victories for Real Madrid.

The fixture which many still call the ‘Viejo Clásico’ (Old Classic) has left us with a lot of moments and nights to remember: Panizo’s hat trick in a 6-2 win in 1950, Dani Ruiz-Bazan’s decisive goal in a 83-84 victory which helped Athletic win that season’s league title and Fernando Llorente’s goal in 2009-10 in what was the Lions’ the last victory against Real Madrid at ‘old’ San Mamés.

In the new stadium, Athletic Club managed to narrowly beat Real Madrid in the 2014/15 season thanks to Artiz Aduriz’s headed goal. It’s a match that is always special in Bilbao, pitting two of LaLiga’s historic clubs against each other, two teams who have won 42 titles in total.