FC Barcelona and Real Madrid face off this Saturday at the Bernabéu in a new edition of the classic. The culés, who beat Bayern yesterday, started as favorites after the great game played by Hansi Flick, but the spectacular comeback of the whites against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League has evened the bets.
The battle of young talents in both teams such as Lamine Yamal or Cubarsí for the culés, or Jude Bellingham or Vinícius for the whites will be one of the great attractions of the match. As will also be the battle of forwards in Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappé.
When the ball begins to roll, the football world begins to follow a match that transcends football itself and, without a doubt, the one with the greatest rivalry in the national championship.
Madrid, as an anti-nationalist symbol
The hostility between the fans of both teams is such that there are many more three points at stake. Surely, as has happened on other occasions, cries against Spain will resonate among those who see to Real Madrid as a symbol of the most rancid patriotism.
Throughout Blaugrana history we have witnessed numerous episodes of nationalist exaltation: estelada, whistles for the Spanish anthem, banners of “Catalonia is not Spain” and even a plant after the incidents recorded in the illegal 1-0 referendumbut all of them without consequences.
The stadium of FC Barcelona has only recorded two closures throughout its history. The one imposed on November 13, 2002 after the incidents that occurred in the match between the Blaugrana and Real Madrid, with objects thrown at the player Luis Figo and the one registered in 1925 in Campo de Les Corts, on that occasion due to “patriotic disaffection” of the Catalans.
On June 14, 1925, it was played in Les Corts (stadium of the FC Barcelona from 1922 to 1967) a match between Barça and CD Jupiter in tribute to the Orfeó Catalá. At half-time, the English navy band, invited to the match, played the British anthem and the Royal March. The 14,000 spectators applauded God Save the Queen and “whistled” the Spanish anthem, according to the chronicles of the time. So, an unusual and unprecedented event in Spain.
Disaffection to the country
Faced with these public insults to national symbols, which caused a stir in the press of the time, the Government of Rivera’s cousin decided to close the field Les Cortes for six months “disaffection with patriotism” in addition to ceasing and replacing, in full, the entire Directive of the club.
In his extensive opinion, dated June 24, 1925, Bosch Milanscaptain general of Spanish army and civil governor of Cataloniareproached the “discourtesy and inconsideration with which the Spanish ‘Royal March’ was heard”which, according to the soldier, constituted “an act of unspeakable disaffection towards the country, with the aggravating factor of occurring in front of foreigners”. In other sections, Bosch Milans pointed out that “in the aforementioned society there is a tendency, which has been accentuated in recent times and especially due to the victory achieved in the regional tournament, to avoid mentioning the name of Spain, recklessly calling it the peninsular championship.”
The resolution of Bosch Milans concluded considering that “no matter how sensitive it may be to adopt decisions against such a large society, the conduct followed by the FC Barcelona society imposes the duty to adopt measures that, because they reflect the sentiment of general opinion, must be firmly held by me. sustained”. In this way, the soldier agreed, “making use of the powers conferred on me: close the operation of this company for a period of six months, not being able to give any show during said time, nor attend others as such an association, nor use the emblems or badges of the society.”
The diary ‘ABC’ He narrated the events that occurred through its pages like this: “The incident cannot surprise anyone who knows the character of this Club, as political, at least, as it is sporting. As never, let’s say, has the Spanish flag been seen flying in the Club, nor has a sign been written in Spanish, There is nothing strange that its partners think that everything Spanish is over there.”, wrote the Madrid newspaper, just a week after the incident. A chronicle that could have been written on dates not too distant where the whistles for the anthem even reached the Prosecutor’s Office, as happened on May 30, 2016 during the final of the Copa del Rey between Barça and Athletic Club de Bilbao.
After the efforts of Gamperthe sanction was reduced to three months. T Although the founder of the club could not withstand the political pressure and left to Swiss. On Christmas Day 1925, Barcelona returned to the Les Corts stadium and did so with a new president, Arcadi Balaguer. Gamper, for his part, who had presented allegations to the Civil Government, finally resigned and went to Switzerland.
Today, what happened in 1925 would be impossible since – unlike what happens in other countries around us – in Spain any whistle or insult to the Crown in a football stadium goes unpunished for the sake of “freedom of expression”.