The notion that sport and politics don’t overlap was surely killed off yesterday in Barcelona.
While some legislators like to float around on the purest of sporting bubbles the reality is that every football club represents a particular cause.
The majority of clubs simply stand for a geographical location but others are formed or take on a particular cause that is representative of their supporters.
C F Barcelona cover most of those areas with the attack on democracy ordered by the Spanish authorities reminding the outside world that there is a deep rooted political motivation that is far stronger than Messi v Ronaldo.
Both players are supremely skilled and successful but are merely the current products of struggles going back generations.
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 1, 2017
Gran Xavi Hernandez!! pic.twitter.com/dLwdTHdWYv
— oriol carmona (@carmona_uri) October 1, 2017
While Fascist leader Franco made Royal Madrid the subject of his favours the Catalan rebels rallied their definance behind Barcelona at their iconic Nou Camp stadium.
Only in the last decade has the Spanish national team been able to pull on all of it’s resources to become the dominant side in international football.
On Friday Spain are scheduled to host Albania in Alicante, coach Julen Lopetegui will have quite a job getting a united dressing room with the real prospect that the Barcelona players will pull out of the match.