Right, yesterday I got this wild idea to make a proper timeline of every Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona match. Figured it’d be neat to see the whole history laid out, you know? Like pulling threads to see the big picture.
Starting Simple (Or So I Thought)
Grabbed my notebook first thing. Sat down, coffee steaming, ready to dig. Headed straight to the official Athletic Club website. Spent ages clicking through their archives section, hunting for historical results. Found bits and pieces – like records from the 1920s and some cup finals. Useful, yeah, but felt like finding puzzle pieces without the box picture. Just random flashes, no real flow.
Decided to pivot. Hopped over to Barcelona’s official records. Honestly? Even messier. Their site buried the old stuff deep. Lots of focus on recent glory years, Messi-era stuff. Trying to find specific match details from like, 1940, felt like digging through sand with a spoon.
Getting Tangled in the Net
Okay, fine. Off to the wider internet rabbit hole. Pulled up multiple supposedly “definitive” Spanish football history sites. Big mistake. Chaos!
- One site had a detailed list… but it mysteriously jumped from 1954 to 1984. Missing decades? Seriously?
- Another site claimed a final score from the 1930s. Totally different score appeared on a different site! Who’s lying?
- Found forums packed with old fans arguing. “That red card was never given!” vs. “My grandad was there, he saw it!”
Started scribbling furious notes, crossing things out, writing question marks everywhere. My neat timeline page looked like a toddler’s angry doodles.
The Newspaper Graveyard
Remembered old newspapers sometimes digitize archives. Got hopeful. Searched digital archives of El Mundo Deportivo & Marca. This was the slow part. Scrolling through scanned pages, squinting at faded print. Found some gems – match reports! But oh man, the bias:
- Barca-focused paper made every Athletic win sound like a fluke or robbery.
- Basque papers described Barca wins as sheer luck or dodgy ref calls.
Realized neutral reporting for this rivalry is basically a myth. Ended up noting both perspectives each time. Made my chart ridiculously wide.
Throwing My Hands Up & Making My Own Mess
After hours? Felt dizzy. Gave up on finding one “true” source. My desk was buried under notes, tabs crowded my screen.
Just started assembling my own frankenstein-timeline. Used:
- Official club dates when they matched.
- Newspaper scores when they agreed (rare!).
- Wrote “disputed!” for conflicting stuff with both stories.
- Marked legendary incidents based on fan consensus from forums (like that infamous lions pitch invasion).
Stared at the finished sprawl. Not clean. Not perfect. Probably wrong somewhere. But it felt real. It shows this rivalry isn’t just goals and dates – it’s noise, bias, passion, and fans yelling across generations. My timeline’s messy because the history is messy. Honestly? I kinda like it that way. Learned more about the arguments than the scores. That’s the real story.