Spanish Thing

This column is quite sure that the New Wembley is a wonderfully wizzy place with its comfy seats, superior sightlines and easy-access corporate troughs. But, if truth be told it's a crying shame that the stupid stadium was ever finished.

For seven glorious years, England fans from Southampton to Sunderland got to support the national team in their part of the world rather than having to make the tedious, time-consuming trip to 'that London'.

Due to the lack of an official home in Spain, the best group of players currently on the planet are still able to enjoy the fun to be had in giving the proles in the provinces a big night out with an international encounter. Well, most of the provinces, anyway.

National news was made last week, when the Basque parliament passed a resolution calling for cycling's Tour of Spain and the national football side to return the strife-torn region.

At face value, it was a remarkable moment considering La Furia Roja has not played in that rain-sodden part of the country since 1967 due to some well known local issues, even though the region's footballers have made enormous contributions to the national side over the same period.

However, the Basque parliament calling for Spain to play a game in one of its stadiums and such an event actually taking place are two very different beasts, indeed.

For Spain to play at any given ground in the country, the club who are based there has to request it, first. And there has been no indication that this is going to happen, anytime soon, with Athletic Bilbao president, Fernando García Macua, saying that La Selección's return to San Mamés for the first time in nearly half a century would be a decision made by the fans - fans that are either seeing the possibility "as a bad thing, or are just indifferent," according to Macua.

His counterpart at Real Sociedad, Jokin Aperribay, claimed that "we're open to (Spain) playing in San Sebastián, but we haven't positioned ourselves to ask for it."

The main reason for the reluctance for anyone to come forward and commit to the controversial concept isn't because there would not be enough flag-waving fans to fill either ground. Indeed, there are a number of Athletic players regularly involved in the national side, including striker Fernando Llorente who said, last week, that "I love playing for Spain and it doesn't matter where."

Instead, it is due to the very real concern that Basque separatist groups would use any Spain encounter as a platform for political protests.

Indeed, one self-proclaimed Athletic Bilbao and Spain supporter had a letter published in Marca asking readers if they could "imagine a ground full of ikurriñas (Basque flags) and fans supporting the opposition? The stadium would be full of banners going over old history."

And it's for this reason that the Basque parliament's request will never get off the ground.

No local club will go against their 'socios' and request a game, whilst the Spanish FA will never invite the controversy of playing Belgium in the Basque country when it is easier to face Venezuela in Valencia.

But the Basque region is not the only area which is a no-go one for the national side, as Cataluyna has not seen la Furia Roja in action since a clash with Italy in Montjuic, Espanyol's old home, back in 2000.

The chance of a game at Camp Nou is up there with Thierry Henry going into an Irish bar, especially whilst current Barcelona president Joan Laporta is at the helm of the Camp Nou club. "I'll fight and work to make this dream a reality," said Laporta recently, on his hopes for a free Cataluyna.

This hatred of a smothering Spanish state has always given both Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona a kind of kinship that came to the fore in their Copa del Rey final clash last season.

When the national anthem was played with King Juan Carlos in attendance, it was booed and barracked by both sets of supporters. Not that viewers at home would have known this, as the national broadcaster engaged in a disgraceful piece of Francoist propaganda by cutting away from the anthem action and replaying it at half-time with the jeers and protests removed.

The two teams met again in San Mamés on Saturday night, with Athletic looking for revenge on their Catalan rivals after the eventual Copa del Rey defeat and a subsequent loss in Spain's equivalent of the Community Shield.

And they always looked strong contenders to get some payback, as a solid start to the season saw the Bilbao club in a fairly comfortable spot in la Primera and able to unleash their hi-tempo, high balls football stylings without worrying too much about the cost of defeat.

Barcelona had to win the clash after seeing Real Madrid go top of the table after a fairly uninspiring 1-0 win over Racing Santander - an intolerable situation for the Catalan club with another edition of El Clásico to come, next Sunday.

But poor Pep Guardiola also had to take into account that his side faced an astonishingly important Champions League match against an Inter Milan side managed by the cursed - and very feared - José Mourinho just a few days later.

However the newly-bearded Barça boss claimed before Saturday's clash that "the Inter game doesn't exist, only the Athletic one." And for the first twenty minutes, his players were true to his word with the front three of Andrés Iniesta, Leo Messi and Pedro battering the wobbling Athletic defence.

However, it was to no reward, which is always a bad sign for Barcelona, a side that likes to polish off their opponents as early as possible before any nerves can set in.

The visitors had to wait until the second half for their opener, when Dani Alves found the back of the net after another exquisite pass from Xavi.

But Athletic cranked up their aerial bombardment machine and equalised ten minutes later when substitute, Gaizka Toquero got on the end of Fernando Llorente's flick-on.

"We forgot to how to deal with long balls," sighed Guardiola after the game hinting at the double failure of the centre-back pair of Gerard Piqué and Dmytro Chygrynskiy who were both at fault for Athletic's effort.

The draw has now put Barcelona on a bit of a downer as the side faces an horrendous week to come. The leg-knacked Leo Messi will almost certainly be out for the Inter Milan clash whilst Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains a doubt, having missed out on the Basque country battle. Eric Abidal, Yaya Touré and Rafael Marquéz are also on the sidelines with the 'flu.

But as the ever philosophical Pep Guardiola said, "What are we going to do? Not turn up against Inter?"

With a crunching Camp Nou clash to come - and the expected return of Cristiano Ronaldo - any talk of a return of international football to the non-Spanish bits of Spain has been put on the back-burner.

And it's likely to stay there for some time, as occasionally it is just easier to leave things as they are.

Round 11 Results

Deportivo 2-1 Atlético
Tenerife 1-2 Sevilla
Real Madrid 1-0 Racing Santander
Athletic 1-1 Barcelona
Villarreal 3-1 Valladolid
Mallorca 3-1 Almería
Espanyol 0-2 Getafe
Xerez 0-0 Sporting
Málaga 1-1 Zaragoza
Osasuna 1-3 Valencia

Tim Stannard