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There were moments of brilliance: Ryan Giggs’ solo goal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park, Thierry Henry’s audacious shot on the turn in 2000.

And the unsavoury stuff — so many red cards, so many brawls and FA charges, the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ in September 2003, the so-called ‘Battle of the Buffet’ in October 2004, Keane’s ‘I’ll see you out there’ exchange with Vieira in the Highbury tunnel in February 2005 — just added to the drama.

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Some of what happened — the challenges on the pitch, the various flare-ups in the tunnel, the barbs traded in the managers’ press conferences — crossed the line, but the rivalry came with an intensity and a ferocity unrivalled in the Premier League in the two decades since.

Goodness only knows how it will play on social media if the Premier League ever gets another rivalry as deeply antagonistic as that.

Oli Kay

(Oscar Del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)

“When Madrid plays Barcelona, the world stops,” said Jose Mourinho in 2012 — and for once, this was not hyperbole from the then-Real Madrid coach.

For over a decade, El Clasico was the biggest game in football, as teams packed with superstar individuals clashed in a series of thrillers.

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There were hammerings like the 6-2 win for Pep Guardiola’s Barca at the Bernabeu late in February 2009, and the 5-0 defeat for Mourinho’s Madrid at Camp Nou in November 2010.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s “calm down” gesture to the Camp Nou after hitting a title-winning goal in April 2012 was iconic.

As was Lionel Messi removing his jersey to show his name to the Bernabeu crowd after his 92nd-minute winner in April 2017.

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Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Iker Casillas, Luis Suarez, Neymar and Karim Benzema all had their unforgettable moments too.

Recent years have also brought drama — and Sunday at the Bernabeu probably will again — but El Clasico’s golden age was unmatchable.

Dermot Corrigan

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid(Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images)

Bayern Munich against Real Madrid has been a supercharged duel of continental heavyweights since the tie’s first iteration in 1976, a European Cup semi-final that saw Madrid striker Roberto Martinez clash with Bayern keeper Sepp Maier and a Madrid supporter punch the referee in the Spanish capital.

A 9-1 friendly humiliation of the Spaniards in Munich (1980) and Bayern leaving the pitch in protest after a flurry of red cards in the Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu (1981) further fuelled the animosity before Juanita was sent off for kicking Lothar Matthaus in the head in the 1987 European Cup semi-final and Hugo Sanchez left a stud mark of Jean-Marie Pfaff’s rib cage in the return leg.

Real Madrid took revenge by winning the next meeting in the quarter-finals a year later.

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By the same irrepressible player.

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The Hand of God may tarnish Diego Maradona’s legacy in the English football consciousness — and especially in Peter Shilton’s — but the majesty of his other goal four minutes later should be the abiding memory of one of the greatest ever.

Maradona’s antics only reinforced the impression among English minds that Argentina would stop at nothing to win, established in 1966 after the tempestuous World Cup semi-final when Sir Alf Ramsey prevented his players from exchanging shirts with “animals”.

And yet David Beckham only had himself to blame for his sending-off in the 1998 World Cup last 16, even if Diego Simeone went down a little easily.

Yet it tends not to deliver Newcastle wins.

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Of Newcastle’s 11 wins, only one has been at Anfield — and that was the first, in 1994, when Rob Lee and Andy Cole struck for the visiting team in a 2-0 success.

What followed a few years later was a sequence of 4-3 victories for Liverpool secured late in each of the games where the momentum swung from one team to the other.

These encounters contributed enormously to the brand the Premier League was building.

Though the malaise under owner Mike Ashley meant Newcastle contributed less to these occasions for a long time, each of the last four meetings has brought three points for Liverpool, but also the sort of unscripted drama associated with the mid-1990s.

Simon Hughes

Chelsea and Barcelona faced each other four times in the knockout stages of the Champions League between 2005 and 2012.

The most iconic incident happened after the full-time whistle of their 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in May 2009.
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