Media celebrate unity of Spanish team

Posted Sunday, September 04, 2011 by Supersport.com

The Spanish media on Saturday expressed delight at the unity shown between the players of traditional diehard rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid shown in Friday's 3-2 friendly defeat of Chile.

Before the match, played in the small Swiss town of St Gallen, there had been serious concern that the harmony within the national team - shown to such good effect during the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 - had been shattered by the recent acrimony between Barca and Real.

In the space of three weeks in spring, the twin giants literally clashed four times - with red cards, punch-ups and mutual accusations flying angrily back and forth.

In August the Big Two of Spanish football clashed twice more, in the Super Cup. And - to the horror of national manager Vicente del Bosque -the boots, fists and red cards flew again.

The Barca players accused Real of being, on the instructions of coach Jose Mourinho, violent and bad losers, the Real players accused Barca of being provocative and theatrical.

The wounds between the two factions started to heal when Iker Casillas, captain of both Real and Spain, two weeks ago called Barca and Spain veterans Xavi and Carles Puyol to try to end the feud.

Del Bosque was delighted with Casillas' actions. Mourinho, in contrast, apparently was not, and - according to the media - left Casillas on the bench throughout the Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu match against Galatasaray as punishment.