BarcelonaThe Barça-Madrid duel, a spectacle that raises passions both locally and globally, comes early this season. “The project under construction”, in the words of Xavi, which means the Barça team visit a solid Madrid whose main weak link is the loss of goalkeeper Courtois. In a world in which we have become accustomed to consuming products à la carte, millions of people around the world will be watching Madrid-Barça this Sunday (4.15 p.m., DAZN). Faced with a clash that always generates high expectations, we ask ourselves: why are we so passionate about it?
“Beyond football, it is a game that draws many layers of rivalry. There is an initial one, which is atavistic and old, which is the rivalry between neighboring towns on a large scale: between the capital and the second city that aspires to be a capital”, opens fire Jordi Puntí. “Then a political rivalry is added: Vázquez Montalbán defined it very well when, during the Franco regime, he said that Barça was the armed arm of Catalonia. When the tensions between Spain and Catalonia flourish, for example with the Process, this part of the rivalry is also an important element.It is the famous one More than a club, which does not always have the same meaning. And, nowadays, there is also a global rivalry: Barça-Madrid is a duel of fictions, with heroes, villains, traitors…”, adds the writer. “The essence of this match is enjoyment, the suffering, waiting for the opening whistle to come…”
“Barça-Madrid has broken borders due to its dimension. The fact that there are media players, as for example Messi and Cristiano were at the time, makes it a global rivalry”, continues Carles Viñas. “The quality of the players, their transcendence, the fact that they are global advertising icons… also help to explain the dimension of the match. Also the fact that it is a clash that reaches places where there is less sophisticated football or with less talent”, assesses the historian.
Viñas also talks about the emotional component of a rivalry that can push passions to the limit. “It is an innate irrationality in the essence of football. It is a sport that can only be understood from feelings, of loyalty to certain colors, of joining a team because of a hereditary issue… It is the religion of the non -believers or even some believers as well. This can also lead to visceral hatreds.”
For us, Madrid is an unchanging essence of perfidy, malevolence and unworthy filth”
Kiko Amat Writer and journalist
“I know absolutely nothing about football, but I hate Madrid, don’t ask me why. I just know that I hate it firmly,” explains Kiko Amat precisely. The writer of Rematcha book where, among many other layers, the phenomenon is explored hooligan, explains that this dislike for the white team comes from his family and geographical-local environment: “I love the idea that we don’t have to look for a rational explanation for the hatred of Madrid. The fascination of all this is that you can hate with a certain virulence a team, in my case, from a sport I don’t follow at all,” he adds.
“I like that there is a cultural battle between Barcelona and Madrid. There is no sentence more abominable than “Oh, I like Madrid”, said by someone from Barcelona. If you think it, don’t say it! There is “to have a rivalry: the people of Barcelona have to shit on Madrid in the same way that they have to shit on us – continues Amat -. It’s a bit the same with football. I love feeling the rejection in my body to anything a Madrid player does – an irrational hatred that I find very interesting to explore. To us Madrid is an unchanging essence of perfidy, malevolence and undignified filth. Madrid is the villain of the film. In many cases, anti-Madridism is more important than love for Barça.”
Like Amat, Maria Nicolau doesn’t pay much attention to football either. His passion is cooking, a world that also seems to be “programmed by fanaticism”. “In the same way that if you’re a Barça fan and Madrid takes a dubious penalty you’ll always think it’s a penalty, in the culinary world you tend to revere with the same fervor the chef who is your reference. For example, the Albert Adrià’s nougat with Lay’s Gourmet potatoes will seem like a creative filigree, a quintessence, while you will despise a packet of Donets. This fanaticism is shared by the figures that are idealized.”
“Barça-Madrid is a duel of fictions, with heroes, villains, traitors…”
Jordi Puntí writer
Nicolau also draws a parallel between the emotional and hereditary factor of the feeling of fandom: “You probably become a team because, I don’t know, your grandparents take you there as a child. In the same way as croquettes or your grandmother’s fricandó will always be the best, because they evoke feelings. In this case, through smell.”
Another way to understand the rivalry
Santi Balmes, for his part, prefers to see the rivalry in another way. “I don’t like the idea of fanaticism and also certain symbols, whatever the team, that some fans sometimes take for a walk.” The singer of Love of Lesbian, in fact, raises a curious vicissitude. He is a supporter of Barça, but the fact that the Real Madrid basketball team, when it was coached by Pablo Laso, celebrated the titles with the song The bulls on the Wiiof his group, makes him say between smiles: “Love of Lesbian is from Barça in football and also, a little, from Madrid in basketball.”
Everyone will understand the rivalry in their own way, but Barça-Madrid will continue to arouse deep passions. This Sunday there is an appointment at the Bernabéu. And, no matter what happens, this rivalry will always appeal.
