The friendly match between Spain and Egypt, played this Tuesday at the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà-El Prat (Barcelona) before 35,895 spectators, has left episodes of bad behavior in the stands, with racist and religious chants and boos of the anthem of the African team.
From an area in the back of Cornellà, where usually The so-called ‘La Curva’ of RCD Espanyol is located, The chant “Muslim he who doesn’t bounce” has been sung repeatedly, starting in the 20th minute, in an offensive behavior that has tarnished the festive atmosphere that existed in the venue.
Furthermore, during the prelude to the meeting, part of the public whistled the Egyptian anthem, while insults directed at the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchezby a small group of fans.
Given these facts, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) He has asked over the public address system and through the stadium’s video scoreboards at half-time that the chanting stop, without obtaining the expected response from that sector of the stands, which acted as a driving force for other increasingly smaller groups of fans in other sectors.
On its social networks, the RFEF has condemned what happened and reiterates its commitment to the fight against racism. “The RFEF joins the message of our football against racism and condemns any act of violence in stadiums,” the organization says.
Its president, Rafael Louzán, has condemned the racist chants heard and calls them “punctual and isolated.” “For the image of sport and football in general, it should be precisely an example, not curiously this type of thing,” he added.
For their part, national team players like Pedri have also regretted what happened. “We have to help each other so that this is eradicated from the football fields,” he said in an interview at the end of the match with RTVE.
Despite these incidents, the vast majority of attendees focused their attention on cheering on the Spanish team, with a festive atmosphere that included chants of support and waves in the stands as the national team returned to the province of Barcelona, in its last test before the next World Cup squad.
