One local news story that headlined El Periodico on April 11, 2010 pertained to the matchup of Real Madrid and Barcelona in “El Clasico.” The article I read about this game’s title was “Messi: We’ve Shown We’re the Best.” This article is basically a report of the team’s feelings after beating their hated rival in a game which put them in the driver’s seat for winning La Liga. The night before, Barcelona went on the road to Madrid and dominated them for a 2-0 victory. The article is filled with quotes from many of the players and coaches as opposed to a summary of the game. In this article, players such as Messi and Puyol are quoted as they talked about their feelings about their team following the big win. The two players were somewhat different in their responses in the article. When asked about the team in the article, the young superstar Messi did not hesitate to say that the win proved the team was the best. In addition, he did not hold back from taking a dig at Madrid by talking about how they beat a team that was purchased to be a champion of Europe. This comment showed that there is no love lost between the two teams, and that the feelings of disdain dating back to the Franco era are still existent today. This quote highlighted a main philosophical difference between the two teams that can be traced back to the way Franco ran Real Madrid by monopolizing all the best players and the league when he was the dictator of Spain. While Real Madrid spends the most money to grab all of the superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, FC Barcelona prides itself on having Catalan players on their team and not just buying their championships. The excitement surrounding this victory was undeniable, as bars were packed as people watched every single play of the game very intensely. Following the victory, the streets were flooded with excited people. This game does not just signify any regular victory that moves a team up in the standings; rather the game represents a win for the Catalan culture against the “evil empire” Franco built. The excitement was evident by the celebration on Las Ramblas, where the streets were packed and crazy. Fireworks were going off and it was so crowded it seemed like it took ten minutes to go one block. This story was certainly one of the most important in El Periodico on this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment