Real Madrid's Alfredo Di Stefano, has arguably been the greatest performer in the history of El Clasico. He was the top scorer in the Spanish league five times between 1954 and 1960, and scored 18 goals vs. Barcelona in his career. To put that in perspective, Lionel Messi has 13 El Clasico goals and Cristiano Ronaldo has just 6.

Johan Cryuff is one of the many legendary Barcelona men, serving as a great player and also a splendid manager for the Catalonians. He scored 48 goals in a 5 year span as a player for Barcelona, and won 11 trophies with them as a manager. But in El Clasico matches, Cryuff only amassed a 10-13-6 record vs. Real Madrid.

General Francisco Franco was a facist dictator that ruled over Spain with an Iron fist for 36 years. The dictator was famously rumored to be a Real Madrid fan, but that has not been confirmed. The civil war that raged on in Spain under Franco's reign has strong ties to El Clasico, with the blue collar Catalans supporting Barcelona and Real Madrid associating more with Madrid wealth and politicians.

Lazlo Kubala has gone down as one of the greatest Barcelona forwards in history. In a ten year career with Barca, Kubala scored 131 goals and made nealry 200 appearances. Kubala's impeccable resume includes two Fairs Cups (now UEFA Cups, 1958, 1960), four Spanish championships (1952, 1953, 1959, 1960) and six Spanish Cups (1951-1953, 1957, 1959, 1963) with Barcelona.

The Brazilian international had a stellar career with Barcelona, and can be credited with much of the rise in popularity of the sport America. In his time with Barcelona, he scored 70 goals in 140 caps, but his spectacular career with the Catalonians can be summed up in one of the most incredible moments in El Clasico history. In a 2005 league match at Real's Bernabeu, Ronaldinho scored two breathtaking goals, the second of which earned him a standing ovation -- from Madrid's fans. Truly a transcendent player.

Luis Figo is one of the more controversial players to be a part of the El Clasico derby. In 2000, Figo made the bold move from Barcelona to Real Madrid (something that had been done many times), but never before had one side felt as betrayed as Barcelona at the time having been a fan favorite at Camp Nou for years. Figo is most infamously known for having a rotting pig head thrown at him in his first return to Camp Nou as a member of Madrid.

Roberto Carlos was a great right wingback for Real Madrid for 11 years, so he certainly saw his fair share of El Clasico action. He is most known for setting up Zinedine Zidane's game winning header in the 2002 Champions League final.

Real Madrid's most recent golden boy, Ronaldo would hands down be the best player in the game today if it weren't for that meddling kid, Messi. But this is Ronaldo's paragraph. Ronaldo's Real Madrid sides have seen great success of late, including a La Liga title last year, which was wrapped up at Camp Nou thanks to a Ronaldo header. Ronaldo has scored 6 goals in El Clasico matches, and appears to be coming into his prime at age 27.

What else is there to say about Lionel Messi? The current choice (arguably) for the greatest player in the world and certainly one of the best ever, Messi has lead his Barcelona side to incredible heights. He seems to always make his presence known in El Clasico, as his team knocked off Real Madrid in the 2011 Champions League final. Messi has scored 13 goals in El Clasico play, and the scarist part is he is only 25.