“This is a club”. When the Camp Nou is not filled with its 90 fans and passing by, this writing can be read in the stands, in yellow on a background of blue and maroon armchairs. More than a club, more than a football team. This is the motto, the philosophy of sport and life of the Blaugrana colours, strictly written in Catalan, symbol of Barcelona's pride and sense of independence and of the people who live in this area of Spain and who recognize themselves in the faith of Futbol Club Barcelona.
In Madrid they would say “Màs que un club”. Similar, but different. Yeah, why the two cities “hate” each other so much that they don't even speak the same language. Different in everything, even in this one. Madrid is the capital, monarchist and Francoist, and his team, Real, was the symbol of the years of the dictatorship, from its inception until the death of the caudillo de Espana, as Francisco Franco was called. Who rode the successes of the merengues team (so they are called due to the white color of the shirts) to celebrate its power and increase its popularity, and centralize everything on the capital, repressing regional autonomies and their cultural identities with the abolition, among other things, local languages.
That's why Barça is "mes que un club", and that's why this motto will always be written and pronounced only in Catalan: it's the symbol of freedom of progressive and democratic Catalonia, and of Barcelona, the city of Gaudì, of culture and tourism.
And then, football. Which has exacerbated the rivalry between the two cities over the decades through the endless and very fiery challenges between Real and Barcelona: the so-called Clàsico.
The one that will be staged on Saturday night in Madrid is the challenge number 216 counting the official matches in all competitions, and the balance so far is essentially equal: 86 Real victories, 45 draws, 84 Blaugrana victories, 361 Real goals, 347 Barça.
But, budget aside, there is very little that is balanced in this challenge. First of all, apart from last year's Copa del Rey final, Real haven't hit many nails in recent years in the league. The last home victory dates back to 2008, the last at the Camp Nou even in 2003.
Therefore, it will certainly be a fiery derby, also considering the episodes of the last year and a half, with the arrival of Mourinho on the Real bench (we only needed that to exasperate the rivalry) in the season, last, which will be remembered as that of the 7 clasicos: double league challenge, double Spanish super cup challenge, Copa del Rey final and double Champions League challenge. Result? Three Barça victories, three draws (but all "favorable" to the Catalans) and only one merengue victory.
But above all, it remains in the memory thatunforgettable manita of 29 November 2010: 5-0 for the blaugrana and game lesson for Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates. And above all a moral slap to the haughty Mourinho, fresh from his treble with Inter and immediately humiliated by Guardiola. A manita then tried to give it to him too Mourinho, in the following matches: on the field he never succeeded, but on the face of poor Vilanova, Guardiola's deputy, almost. Annoyed by the umpteenth defeat suffered, in the last Spanish Super Cup, he actually laid hands on his colleague, poking his fingers in his eye, an episode that cost him disqualification and an unprecedented siege by the Spanish press.
Mourinho is a scourge for Spanish football, commented Barça indignantly. And Guardiola? No, he didn't say anything. He never responded to the numerous provocations (which we Italians know very well) from the Portuguese coach. Maybe we owe it to his aplomb that a real war didn't break out? Probably, the fact is that the challenge of challenges is also played on the benches. As if all the dimensions on which this eternal rivalry is played out were not already enough, the now legendary clash between the sobriety and discretion of Pep Guardiola and the incandescence and arrogance of Josè Mourinho (they have in common only elegance), increasingly frustrated and helpless in the face of the dominance of Barcelona, which in addition to winning in direct matches, last season made the en plein of titles, leaving only the Copa del Rey to Real.
But for a winner like the special One, this is too little, and they know it in Barcelona. They know that for him it is an obsession: it's time to avenge manita and whatnot. Just as in Madrid they know that in Catalonia they can wave as many hands as they want, but near the Santiago Bernabeu two hands are not enough to remind their hated rivals on 11-1 of 1943, the largest result ever.
Only twice, and we can swear they were the only two, those hands have also been used for applaud opponents: the last one was in that famous one 0-3 of 20 November 2005, when Ronaldinho scored a wonderful double that stunned the Bernabeu fans so much that they got a standing ovation. Had happened only with Maradona, 22 years earlier.
This time there are neither Ronaldinho nor Maradona, but the stars are not lacking. And let's hope it ends like it did then, with lots of entertainment and for once a little fair play. Will the style of play of the architect Guardiola-Gaudì or the iron character of the tyrant Mourinho-Franco win? On the field the sentence, with good luck to both teams. Strictly in different languages. Let's go real! Anem Barcelona!
