A Clasico of a poor level and stormy. This is all that we will remember from the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final (return match on April 5), won by Barcelona on the lawn of Real Madrid (0-1). The tension was expressed by inappropriate gestures and words. Even Catalan coach Xavi stepped out of his role.
At the very end of the match, after a clash on the field between Alejandro Balde and Dani Carvajal, Xavi first quipped at the address of the Madrid right side: “You are intelligent”. Then, still under the eye of the cameras of the Spanish broadcaster of the match, Movistar, he called him “crazy” twice, before letting go: “Imbecile, you are an imbecile”. Insulting remarks that could be worth a sanction to the Barça coach.
This altercation was not isolated. Others enamelled this tense match. Gavi and Vinicius, the Spanish and Brazilian internationals, never stopped provoking each other for 90 minutes and were always on the limit: light jostling, physical intimidation during the set pieces phases… And according to images captured by Movistar, while the 18-year-old Spaniard was up to number 20 of Real, he would have insulted him as “son of p…”. Comments relayed by the Spanish press. The two players also each received a yellow card, for a kind of judo take on Frenkie de Jong for Vinicius, and for a heated exchange with the Brazilian before a corner for Gavi.