When 'East' and 'West' collided on the sports field

From England vs Scotland rivalry to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid's clash, few sporting events will be remembered for 'different reasons'

It was the highly awaited encounter between two Germanys - East and West Germany at the 1974 World Cup in Hamburg.

West Germany led by the charismatic Franz Beckenbauer were favourite given the fact that they were a well-oiled unit with several big names.

Muller who was the highest scorer in World Cup history and Berti Vogts who later became coach of Germany.

In contrast, East German players were a mix of amateurs who did not play professionally.

The first half was a hard-fought encounter as the East Germans came away as the better team surprising their neighbours with a display of skill and energy in front of 60,000 thousand capacity crowd.

In the second half, striker Jurgen Sparwasser of East Germany dribbled past three defenders to score a historic goal.

East Germany beat West Germany by a solitary goal as the finished on top of the group.

However, the script went wry for the East Germans as they lost to Brazil and Holland as West Germany peaked at the right time to win the 1974 World Cup beating Johan Cruyff Holland in the final match.

It was a clash which was being fought within the United Kingdom between England and Scotland at Wembley in 1996 Euro Cup.

The hosts had drawn their match against Switzerland and were under pressure to win against their neighbours.

Scotland, on the other hand, had drawn their match against Holland and were looking forward to embarrassing their big rivals.

It was England's day however as Shearer struck just after the second half and then Paul Gascoigne (in the image) struck lobbing the ball past Hendry and blasting it past the goalkeeper Andy Goram.

Scotland players were left heartbroken including the fans as Englands celebrated.

England, however, lost to Germany on penalties in the semi-final and bowed out of the tournament.

India and Pakistan have repeatedly fought against each other in various sporting events.

But the encounter which every cricket fan remembers is the 1999 World Cup in England when Bangladesh which was known as West Pakistan before the 1971 Indo-Pak war, beat its big brother - Pakistan at Northampton.

Even though it was the mismatch of the century with Pakistan boasting of legendary cricketers with Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq failed to reach the 224-run target set by Bangladesh.

Pakistan was reduced to 77-4 early in the innings and went downhill from there folding up for a paltry 161.

Khaled Mahmud was declared the man of the match for his heroic 3/31.

It was a day both Pakistan and Bangladesh fans will remember forever - for different reasons.

The rivalry between the two Spanish club goes far beyond the field. It continues on social networking sites as well. Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos often get involved in verbal altercations although, both of them play together for Spanish football team.

Catalans always wanted freedom from Spain and now, with the population of 7.5 million and history of over 1000 years old has voted in favour of its exit from Spain. More than 90 percent population has voted for independence.

With this political instability, the club match between FC Barcelona which is a club of Catalonia and Real Madrid which is a club of Madrid becomes a historic clash.

Not only the players, fans and spectators have taken this rivalry to another level. The match which was played on April 22, 2017, is the most valuable match ever played with a total value of 1,04 Billion €.