There's More to El Clasico than Football

The rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid goes way beyond football. The essence of the clash is political and social, as Catalan Barça player Gerard Piqué points out in Sports Illustrated: “The rivalry is really strong, and not only because of football matters like Madrid and Barcelona,” he says. “It's more political as well. Here in Barcelona we're in Catalonia, and for a lot of people Catalonia is like a country. The rivalry is also Catalonia-Spain, not only Barcelona and Madrid”. And Real Madrid, former Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco's favourite team, is a leading symbol of unitary and uniform Spain. As Grant Wahl says in the same article, “Real Madrid tends [broadly] to be the choice of conservatives and Castilians, Barça the bastion of progressives and Catalonians.”

As Pete Jenson points out in British newspaper The Independent, “This game has been billed as the most politically-charged meeting of these two sides since 1975, when Real Madrid visited the Camp Nou just a month after the death of Franco and Barça could barely get the Catalan flags (previously banned inside the stadium) sewn fast enough” 

This time, there is to be a huge Catalan flag mosaic made up with red and yellow coloured cards held up by the fans in the stands. And at minute 17:14 in each half the fans will undoubtedly chant “In-Inde-Independència”, voicing their wish, and will, to break away from Spain which defeated Catalonia in 1714, imposing its own central law and gradually its language.

All in, it a well-worthwhile match to see this evening between what are probably the best two soccer teams in the world.

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