Trouble in Barcelona, But Who’s to Blame?

By: Daryl | September 29th, 2008

Barcelona came from behind and won the Catalan derby 2-1 with two late goals, but the big news was the crowd violence. With home team Espanyol leading twenty minutes from the end, Barcelona’s notorious Boixos Nois supporters began raining flares down on Espanyol fans, as you can see in the video above.

Referee Medina Cantalejo had to stop the game for several minutes as some ugly scenes unfolded. Five people were later arrested and an investigation has been launched to work out exactly who’s to blame.

Unsurprisingly, everyone seems to be blaming everyone else. Here’s an excerpt from Sid Lowe’s report for The Guardian:

And so began the finger pointing and scapegoating, as everyone rushed to blame it on everything but the boogie. And themselves. The police blamed it on Espanyol’s lax security and free ticket sales (although, oddly, not for positing the Boixos in a prime throwing position). The Ministry of the Interior followed suit, and so have Barcelona. Espanyol blamed it on the police for not intervening despite escorting Barcelona fans all the way there and being given tip-offs, as well as the council, Barcelona’s fans, and their players – five of whom they’ve formally reported for incitement to violence: Henry, who got the equaliser immediately after the restart and decided that would be a good time to reward the flame-throwers by pointedly celebrating with them, Eto’o, who showered, changed and went back out to the now almost-empty arena to applaud them a little more, and Alves, Rafa Márquez, and Piqué who all rushed to them, earning an ear-bashing from the captain Carles Puyol and Guardiola.

Sounds like an absolute mess, but seems the fundamental finger of blame should point directly at the Boixos Nois. This was the last derby in Espanyol’s Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys before they move to the Estadio Cornellá-El Prat next season. And so Barca’s Boixos Nois apparently organized themselves via the internet to “give (the Espanyol fans) the send-off they deserve”.

Not sure exactly how Espanyol fans “deserve” to have flares rain down on them, but there you have it.

More footage from the game, including Joan Laporta’s reaction (not happy) and some of the actual football played. Leo Messi won the game for Barca with a 95th minute(!) penalty: