Luis Figo Photo: VCG

The rivalry of Barcelona and Real Madrid has been well documented. It has also never been stronger perhaps than in recent years when the two best players in the world - Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo - were scoring the goals that drove the team towards success in La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.

Those two won 10 Ballon d'Or trophies in a row between them and it is a sign of the quality between the two biggest clubs in world football - and make no mistake they are just that - that when the duopoly was broken it was Madrid's Luka Modric who won it. Normal service has since been resumed with Messi taking the title this year.

Their predecessors in the ­famous white shirts of Real ­Madrid or the red and blue of Barcelona have claimed the title of the best player in the world too.

Luis Figo, for example, did so in 2000. That was not long after he had moved to the Bernabeu from, of all places, Barcelona - and it was his performances for the Catalan club that were responsible for the award.

Figo was not welcomed back by the Camp Nou faithful, with the worst example perhaps coming on a visit in 2002.

He was targeted by the fans, who hurled objects at him from the terraces. Teammate Michel Salgado, who played fullback behind the Portugal international winger, recounted what fans threw.

"I used to offer Luis the chance to take the short corner, drawing up close to him near the touchline, but not this time." Salgado said. "Missiles were raining down from the stands: coins, a knife, a glass whiskey bottle."

There was also famously a pig's head thrown in a game that had to be called off for 16 minutes by the referee.

Figo had spent five years at Barcelona before the transfer and was beloved by the fans but they had turned on him spectacularly and let him know just how much on that second visit as a Real Madrid player.

All in all more than 30 players have worn the kits of both clubs, starting with Alfonso Albeniz, who won trophies with his hometown club Barcelona before signing for Real Madrid back when they were still just Madrid FC - the Real prefix was afforded to the club by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 after the Spanish Flu pandemic. Albeniz would later become a director at the Madrid side.

It was another Alfonso who was among the last to don both rivals' shirts. Alfonso Perez, who had begun his career at Real Madird, moved to Barcelona in 2000 from Real Betis. It was a largely forgettable two-year spell for the man who had won the Olympics with Spain in Barcelona in 1992.

Disappointment was not true of some of the ­others who featured for both sides in El Clasico, though.

Ronaldo

Recently named as the greatest ever player by Jose Mourinho, Ronaldo is that rarest of things: a player still beloved by both Barcelona and Real Madrid fans. The Brazilian only spent one season at the Camp Nou but he fully lived up to his "El Fenomeno" nickname for Bobby Robson's side. Mourinho had a front-row seat for 47 goals in 49 games in the 1996-97 season as Robson's translator. Ronaldo would leave for Inter, for a world-record fee. That smashed his former world record set when he moved to Barcelona from PSV Eindhoven. He would move to ­Madrid from Italy in 2002 and win another Ballon d'Or to add to the one he got for that season at ­Barcelona. Injuries and the weight gain that led to him being known as "The Fat Ronaldo" would befall him in his later days in Madrid but he was some player.

So beloved was the player by football fans that he was given an ovation to Old Trafford when his hat trick knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League in 2003.

Samuel Eto'o

The Cameroon striker was not a hit at Real Madrid, who he joined from his homeland and spent three years there, mostly out on loan. He left permanently for Mallorca in 2000 after only three matches for Madrid and soon found his shooting boots. Four years later he made the short hop from the Balearics to Barcelona and spent five years at the Camp Nou. He won three league titles and two Champions League medals before heading to Inter Milan.

Luis Enrique

The midfielder won trophies for Real Madrid, where he spent five years before leaving on a free transfer and signing for Barcelona. He would go on to captain the side he would play for over 200 times and won two La Liga titles. Enrique would later manage the club, where he would add two more Spanish titles and the Champions League in 2015.

Gheorghe Hagi

The Romanian never won La Liga in four seasons split equally between the two clubs. Hagi joined ­Madrid in 1990 on the back of that year's World Cup in Italy but after two years went to Serie A with Brescia where he would spend another two years before moving to Barcelona. The Maradona of the Carpathians left after two years where he largely warmed the bench for coach Johan Cruyff.

Michael Laudrup

The Dane won four La Liga titles with Barcelona at the start of the 1990s and then moved to Madrid where he won it again in his first season. Laudrup left because he had fallen out with his coach Johan Cruyff and sticking it to Barcelona while also ending a five-year title drought in the capital might be why he is held in such high esteem in Madrid.

Javier Saviola

The Argentina striker was a wonderkid at River Plate in his homeland and capturing his signature was regarded as a coup for the Camp Nou club. After arriving in 2001 he scored for fun in his first three seasons at Barcelona but then saw more bench time than action and was loaned out. He played a final seasn for them before heading to Madrid as a free agent. He was less successful in Real's colours but did win the league once in his two years there.