Artículo sobre la rivalidad Barcelona-Madrid

Este es un artículo de 2008 sobre la histórica rivalidad entre FC Barcelona y Real Madrid en el periódico en inglés de los Emiratos Árabes Unidos. Lo copio para que cada uno saque su propia opinión.

"It is more than simply a game

Robert Philip

• Last Updated: December 11. 2008 8:21PM UAE / December 11. 2008 4:21PM GMT

The former Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho leaves Real's Fernando Gago, left, and Michael Salgado spralling during a 3-3 draw in one of the most memorable El Classico fixtures in recent times. Albert Gea / Reuters

Like many of my generation, as a boy, I idolised Real Madrid. How could I not when as a nine-year-old, I stood on the old terraces of Hampden with my dad utterly transfixed by the sight of Puskas, Di Stefano and Gento ripping Eintracht Frankfurt apart 7-3 to lift the European Cup for the fifth successive time? Eintrtacht, I should point out, were a wondrously talented side in their own right, having thrashed Rangers 12-4 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

Oh, how I despaired just a few months later when my beloved Real’s reign as the Kings of Europe came to an abrupt end when, in an era before seedings or Champions’ League format, the Madrilenos were beaten 4-3 on aggregate by bitter rivals Barcelona in the first round of the 1961 competition.

The two forward lines of 47 years ago still make me tingle: Barcelona: Ladislao Kubala, Sandor Kocsis, Evaristo, Luis Suarez, Zoltan Czibor. Real Madrid: Justo Tejada, Luis del Sol, Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Francisco Gento.

As an adult I came to realise exactly what Real Madrid stood for; a propoganda machine for the fascist regime of General Franco. Though Real achieved “independence” even before Franco’s death in 1975, I have never forgotten that sense of betrayal and, so, when the two clubs meet in El Classico at the Camp Nou on Sunday, I will raise my voice from afar in support of the Catalans.

Here is a rivalry unlike any other in sport – forget Rangers-Celtic, AC Milan-Inter, Liverpool-Everton – dating back to the earlier dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera in the 1920s when Barcelona were banned for six months after their fans had booed and whistled the playing of the Spanish national anthem. As writer Jimmy Burns wrote in his beautifully crafted history of the club Barca: A People’s Passion: “The repression became more acute during the Franco years. While Real Madrid became, in Catalan eyes, a symbol of dictatorship and the enforced unity of Spain, Barca was transformed into more than a club, a world in which people discovered a crude sense of what it is to feel Catalan, with loyalty and emotion.”

Enmity turned into a lasting and bitter hatred in the early days of the Spanish Civil War when the Barcelona club president, Josep Sunyol, was executed by fascist troops on a mountain pass. Nor did Franco attempt to hide his hatred of everything Catalan; despite Barcelona’s successes on the football pitch – league champions in 1953-59-60, Fairs Cup winners in 1958 and 1960 – it was the Real Madrid players who were awarded the Imperial Order of the Yoke and Arrows (the symbols of the Falange Espanol movement) in his 1955 honours list in celebration of his military uprising.

Santiago Bernabeu, the Real president who already possessed a number of military decorations for his role in the retaking of Catalonia during the Civil War, also received the Grand Cross of Civil Merit while Barca’s red and blue flags (the colours of club and ‘country’) were banned.

Few clubs have had more galacticos than Barcelona: following that magical team of the sixties came the Dutch masters, the two Johans, Cruyff and Neeskens, then Michael Laudrup and Diego Maradona, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Luis Figo, and, most recently, Ronaldinho, Deco and Lionel Messi.

Steve Archibald’s arrival in the summer of 1984 did not send the pulses racing; having seen Maradona depart for Napoli, the locals were expecting a player of similar renown to be named as his replacement and here was coach Terry Venables parading a little-known Scottish striker before them in the little maestro’s No 10 shirt. By season’s end, ‘Archigoles’ was top scorer in La Liga, and a love affair between the people and footballer had begun. Although he would subsequently resume his soccer travels – to Hibernian, Fulham and Espanol among others – Archibald has since set up home in Barcelona where he remains an icon. But surely he must have found it intimidating in being handed Maradona’s No10 shirt?

“No, I didn’t find it intimidating at all. Whatever walk of life you’re in, you’ve got to have confidence in your own ability, so the supposed burden of replacing Maradona never entered my head,” he said.

“The locals clearly thought otherwise because every question concerned how I felt about being a substitute for Maradona. My reply might sound trite but was heartfelt: ‘I’m not a substitute for anyone, I’ve been signed to score goals, and that’s what I’ll do to the best of my ability’.”

And score goals he did, inspiring Barcelona to their first league championship for 10 years then leading the club to the final of the European Cup in 1986 when they surprisingly lost to Steaua Bucharest in Seville, the Romanian goalkeeper making four saves in a penalty shoot-out.

“That was a tremendous disappointment because Barcelona had never won the European Cup while Real Madrid had lifted it six times, so it represented the Holy Grail to the fans. Steaua were a class team, but after playing magnificent football throughout the tournament, they came looking for a 0-0 draw and, having achieved that, won the resultant lottery.”

Although the citizens of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester are passionate about their football, it is doubtful if any city on earth can compare with Barcelona, where every man, woman and child (the few lost souls who support Espanyol apart) regard the club as being part of their very soul.

“To be honest, I had no idea how deep their feelings ran; I’d never even been to Spain on holiday, so the history of the club as a national identity of Catalonia was something I only came to appreciate later,” added Archibald.

“Even walking down Las Ramblas today people recognise me, which I’d like to think is their way of saying thanks. All the world loves a trier and if nothing else, I was a trier who also managed to score a few And when you’re given that level of affection, it’s impossible not to love them in turn which is why Barcelona is now part of my home.”

rphilip@thenational.ae"