Real Madrid 16 years since he left Barcelona for Real Madrid

Barcelona and Real Madrid have often enjoyed a terse rivalry but one act remains so heinous that it continues to generate outrage, 16 years on.

Before July 24, 2000, a combined 17 players, including Bernd Schuster, Michael Laudrup and Javier Saviola, had traversed the path from the Camp Nou to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu largely without incident.

And then Luis Figo came along.

For the preceding five years, Barcelona had become spellbound by the Portuguese winger during a glittering spell that saw them lift successive La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, among other honours.

Bidding to win the Estadio Santagio Bernabeu's presidency at the second attempt, however, Florentino Perez set about making the blueprint for his first Galacticos dynasty.

A pre-contract agreement was brokered with Figo, including a severe 26 million euros penalty for failing to join Real, after Perez had extensively polled the club's 83,967 members on their preferred marquee signing.

When reports of the deal leaked to the media, it drew a forthright response from the player in an interview with Catalan newspaper Sport on July 9, 2000.

"I want to reassure fans that Luis Figo, with all the certainty in the world, will be at the Camp Nou on July 24 to start the season," the player himself said at the time.

The 27-year-old did not stand true to his word however.

Instead, on that date, he was unveiled as Real's new No.10, for a then world-record fee of 62 million euros.

A flying start to life at the Bernabeu saw Los Blancos wrestle back the La Liga crown from Deportivo La Coruna while he scooped the Ballon d'Or just months after a fierce reception on his inaugural return to Barcelona.

Further acrimony followed Figo's subsequent visits to the Camp Nou, most infamously on November 23, 2002 when a pig's head thrown at him amid a hail of bottles and coins that prompted the game to be halted for 12 minutes.

Earlier that year, Real had lost their La Liga crown to Valencia but secured an unprecedented ninth European Cup at Glasgow's Hampden Park.

That triumph proved the pinnacle of Figo's five-year stay and sets aside his success at the Bernabeu from a similar period with Barcelona, whom he left citing a pursuit of more illustrious honours.

Such remains the ill feeling towards Figo in Catalonia that his old club forced UEFA to remove him from a legends match comprising of former players before their 2015 Champions League final with Juventus.

Never has one player's defection caused such long-standing animosity.