Barcelona v Real Madrid - Battle of the Third Kits


I am a long time lover of black kits. Each and every year when a team decides to go with black as the color choice for their third kit, I always smile a bit. These jerseys may not get worn that often. Which might make them an even cooler item. But when they do get worn, I think the teams look just a little bit tougher. 

I'm not sure what the history of Barcelona and Real Madrid is like in terms of black kits, but both teams have offered a black kit in recent years. So ahead of the El Clasico this weekend, we take a look at recent black kits that the teams have offered in recent years.

Real Madrid - 2014/15

For the 2014-15 season, adidas and Real Madrid partnered with long tome adidas collaborator Yohji Yamamoto. On the surface, this makes so much sense. Yamamoto has a line with adidas called Y-3 so he is already a part of the family. So combining one of adidas' greatest design partners to design a jersey with one of their pinnacle clubs makes total sense. 

The design is inspired by Yamamoto's vision of a heroic story. The front and back of the jerseys feature a mythical creature that is both dragon and bird that has all kinds of symbolic meaning (strength, determination, power, etc). 

Barcelona - 2013/14

For the 2013/14 season Nike designed a black third kit for Barcelona. They had a black kit a couple seasons before, and offered another one up in 2013. Nowhere near the same type of collaboration or story behind this jersey compared to the Yohji Yamamoto designed Real Madrid kit, but this was definitely a clean looking kit that could get worn away from the pitch.