A former FC Barcelona star has been accused of being anti-Catalan, or quite ‘Catalanophobic’ by … Extra
A former FC Barcelona star has been accused of being anti-Catalan, or quite ‘Catalanophobic,’ by local newspaper El Nacional.
Emmanuel Petit spent three profitable seasons at Arsenal, which noticed him win a 1997/1998 Premier League and FA Cup double in north London forward of the World Cup and Euros with France.
Within the yr of that latter conquest, 2000, he headed south to Barca with Gunners colleague Marc Overmars because the pair joined the Catalans in a double switch deal.
Petit value £7 million to land, which was far cheaper than Overmars’ £25 million price ticket. But whereas the Dutchman’s time at Camp Nou was plagued with accidents, Petit additionally encountered struggles to settle.
Moved into defence, he suffered his personal bout of niggling accidents and was moved on to Chelsea after only one time period with solely a single objective to his title.
In a 2008 autobiography, Petit attacked Lorenzo Serra Ferrer for not figuring out his place when he joined the Blaugrana, however there have been additional criticisms of the membership’s tradition on the entire.
In a chapter entitled ‘Barcelona, to my misfortune’, Petit wrote how he was ignored when he first joined the membership with many not even greeting him.
The Barca locker room was cut up into three clans of Catalans, Dutch, and “the remainder” he stated, which was “goodbye to unity”.
“As quickly as I arrived at Barcelona folks informed me: ‘don’t attempt to be taught Spanish, you need to be taught Catalan’. And I stated to them: ‘I’m in Spain, proper?’ And they’d reply: ‘No. You’re in Catalonia.’,” Petit defined.
“I perceive that they recognized with that, however that may be very near racism. We’re speaking about soccer, not politics or faith. I didn’t just like the scenario within the dressing room in any respect after which this fixed means of forcing me to talk in Catalan … though I do know that for certain it’ll make the Catalans soar, Barcelona remains to be in Spain and I didn’t actually perceive it,” Petit added.
Although the guide was launched in 2008, El Nacional has printed the extract this week and referred to as Petit “a Barca midfielder [who] vomits towards Catalonia in his autobiography and accuses the Catalans of being racists for talking Catalan”.
Its report has been picked up by many retailers throughout Spain, with the delicate subject of Catalan tradition, language and identification all the time more likely to appeal to curiosity.
FC Barcelona is happy with its Catalan identification
Recognized for being “greater than a membership”, FC Barcelona is happy with its Catalan identification. This may be seen by its use of Catalan in Camp Nou or its non permanent residence Montjuic, the inclusion of the Senyera flag on its shirts, and the celebration of typical Catalan holidays comparable to Saint Jordi, or Saint George’s Day.
