Millions of Spaniards lost their breath on May 2 when Xavi, the playmaking genius of Barcelona was found to be carrying an injury that might have very well prevented him from playing in the World Cup. The 30 year old had a 3cm rip just above his left calf muscle which would have required an operation if the problem aggravated, thus possibly would have resulted in his end of the Cup. However with La-Liga in its final heat and Barca needing victories to win it, he opted to keep playing knowing very well that his loss to Spain would have meant a serious threat to their World Cup campaign. Although he was appraised highly in his own camp but not everyone was pleased with his decision. The incident heated up the debate amongst the already divided Spanish fans.
Xavi is from Catalonia that historically has had hostile relations with the rest of the Spain. Many Catalans see themselves as a separate nation and have a sound dream to have an independent state. They have their own culture which seems to be quite different from the Spanish culture and they also speak their own language. There have been many instances in the Spanish history where the force was used against the Catalans, which has caused a serious distrust among the Catalans and rarely do they consider themselves as part of Spain.
In turn most of Spaniards have serious doubts about Catalan players. They accuse the Catalans player of losing the previous World Cups and are of view that these players play better for Barcelona and have nothing to offer when it comes to the national team. The enthusiasm is lost when the Barca Catalonian players are in national shirts. It is definite that Barca is more than a club to Catalans and they take it as a platform to represent them politically as well. And yet once again, this year in South Africa, the hopes of Spain lies on the performance of the Catalan talent which include Xavi, Fabregas, Busquets, Puyol and Pique. The fans had serious trouble when they saw Xavi playing for Barcelona with an injury and almost risking a very potential World Cup glory to Spain. This clearly replicates how the fans all over Spain have divided interests when critics believe they are on a verge of making history.
The Catalans home team Barca has an immense youth system which has helped national team in every form by providing excellent players for every position. The Euro 2008 glory and their Number 1 ranking in FIFA Rankings is a replica of the quality of players Catalans are producing in their factories. For Barcelona the same players have achieved the height of success with a record breaking six trophies in a single season. With all the politics revolving around the Spanish team, yet the players are too far from this politics. According to both Xavi and Pique, it is an honour to play in national team which all other star players. Moreover they don’t believe in all that politics.
With a team so much united that they are playing beyond their differences, the fans are not thinking the same way. For most of the Catalans it doesn’t matter if their team loses or wins. They have their own team Barcelona and are unwilling to give any support to even the Catalan players playing for the national team. According to these fans the tournament means nothing to them. The most astonishing thing is that the same sentiment is shared by Joan Laporta, the former president of FC Barca. He recently said that he has no emotion for the national team even when six of his boys are playing in the national shirts. All that happening, it would be interesting to see if Spain goes on to win the World Cup and eliminate the racism from the country, an idea on which the whole tournament is based on.
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