Both Pep's Barcelona and Zidane's Real are historical teams that became so historical, memorable and remarkable for very different, sometimes opposite, reasons. That's why comparing both ultimately does not make much sense. Pep's Barcelona had a more lasting effect in the game and looked unbeatable in their best matches, pushing football to its highest technical level.
Zidane's Madrid was a different case. What defined that Real team was ultimately their mentality and competitive edge to score and get the result even when playing badly and under big pressure, such as both legs against Bayern in 2018 (Bayern clearly superior in both games, though they weren't technically great games anyway, and still losing due to Real taking advantage of Rafinha and Ulreich's terrible mistakes, not unlike Karius' two blunders in the final) and the second leg against Juventus also in 2018. Their decline had clearly started already, their football was unconvincing and they were 17 points behind Barcelona in La Liga. The winning mentality of a club made to win, fated, almost doomed to win at times, of the UCL king, was still as strong as ever though. It's admirable.
Xavi once said that he envied how Real could get the needed results even when outplayed and playing badly, this is something that Real has more than any other club. And the UCL is Real's big playground, they can win it even if playing badly in most of the games in the season, such as their last season. In the 2015-2016, Zidane had assumed only in the middle of the season and Real had the easiest CL run ever and even then their football was never really good and convincing in that 2016 UCL KO. Barcelona and Bayern had been playing the best football in Europe throughout almost the entire 2015/2016 season. When it comes to pure quality and technical level, though, Zidane's Real was truly at its prime in the 2016-2017 season. They were really great. Not peak Pep's Barcelona level, but still very high quality and best team in the world. Considering all of this, the fact that Real was the club able to win 3 consecutive titles despite some previous squads being more brilliant than them feels fitting and right, inevitable. Zidane's Real is defined by Thanos' quote: "I am inevitable". Their motto was winning at the big stage no matter what.
To make my point clear, I'm not really putting one team above the other, I'm just saying that their differences mean that what made both go in history forever is different and both have their place, you cam't say that one is really significantly superior, more relevant or important in football history than the other. Like the Ajax from the 70s and Bayern from the 70s.
Zidane's Madrid was a different case. What defined that Real team was ultimately their mentality and competitive edge to score and get the result even when playing badly and under big pressure, such as both legs against Bayern in 2018 (Bayern clearly superior in both games, though they weren't technically great games anyway, and still losing due to Real taking advantage of Rafinha and Ulreich's terrible mistakes, not unlike Karius' two blunders in the final) and the second leg against Juventus also in 2018. Their decline had clearly started already, their football was unconvincing and they were 17 points behind Barcelona in La Liga. The winning mentality of a club made to win, fated, almost doomed to win at times, of the UCL king, was still as strong as ever though. It's admirable.
Xavi once said that he envied how Real could get the needed results even when outplayed and playing badly, this is something that Real has more than any other club. And the UCL is Real's big playground, they can win it even if playing badly in most of the games in the season, such as their last season. In the 2015-2016, Zidane had assumed only in the middle of the season and Real had the easiest CL run ever and even then their football was never really good and convincing in that 2016 UCL KO. Barcelona and Bayern had been playing the best football in Europe throughout almost the entire 2015/2016 season. When it comes to pure quality and technical level, though, Zidane's Real was truly at its prime in the 2016-2017 season. They were really great. Not peak Pep's Barcelona level, but still very high quality and best team in the world. Considering all of this, the fact that Real was the club able to win 3 consecutive titles despite some previous squads being more brilliant than them feels fitting and right, inevitable. Zidane's Real is defined by Thanos' quote: "I am inevitable". Their motto was winning at the big stage no matter what.
To make my point clear, I'm not really putting one team above the other, I'm just saying that their differences mean that what made both go in history forever is different and both have their place, you cam't say that one is really significantly superior, more relevant or important in football history than the other. Like the Ajax from the 70s and Bayern from the 70s.
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