The last classic between Real Madrid and Barcelona did not only serve to confirm Barça's superiority in sports, it also showed more than ever the serious fracture that Spanish women's football is experiencing, faced since last August they stood before the Spanish Federation to claim a professional work structure.
Then, the dressing room agreed to transfer their demands to Jorge Vilda but, at the last moment, a group of soccer players, including all the Madridistas, dropped this request. A move that undermined the confidence of the other part of the group, mostly Barça, who felt that he had been betrayed.
Despite this, the majority group continued to defend the changes they believe necessary to ensure the future success of the team and in September, up to 15 footballers -six from Barça- announced their departure from the national team until the Federation did not take action in the affair. They did not sign this letter, but they also publicly supported the 15 Alexia Putellas, Irene Paredes and Jenni Hermoso, while no Real Madrid footballer has supported, at least publicly, the 15.
In this context, it was evident that the relationship between the players had suffered and that it would cost a lot to redirect the situation, but after what happened on Sunday at the Di Stéfano, the fracture seems irreconcilable. Gone are the applause from the white squad for the Barça fans who achieved a historic sellout at the Camp Nou last year.
Of those classics – which have never become so since Real Madrid has only existed for a couple of seasons – there is nothing left. The tension that was experienced on the Valdebebas lawn had never been seen before and the 'sprints' between Misa and Aitana, Esther and Mapi, or Rolfö and Athenea, were just a sample of how rarefied the atmosphere was. The fans did not help to quell the flames either and fueled the tension with chants in favor of Jorge Vilda and scolding the azulgranas "you are not going to the World Cup".
The tears of the Madrid goalkeeper after arguing with Aitana after the game were one of the images that most fed social networks that were infected by the most toxic rivalry, until now more typical of the masculine classics. “The truth is only known by those of us who are in the field. Is avoiding controversy turning your back? Enough speculation and misinformation. Let's stay with today's result. Força Barça!” the Barça player wrote on Twitter.
Even a day later, already cold and from the concentration of the Spanish team, Real Madrid player Olga Carmona intensified the confrontation with a harsh message on her social networks: “Yesterday was not our best game. Sportingly, we still have a lot to improve and a long way to go on this journey that we have just undertaken, but how difficult and costly it must be to have to improve values such as respect, education and humility between people. We continue!”
This Monday the last concentration of the Spanish team of this 2022 began in Las Rozas, with friendlies against Argentina and Japan, with a list in which once again there are more madridistas than ever (9). With the absence of Barcelona's usual internationals – in this window he has only called the young Salma Paralluelo – the Real Madrid soccer players have assumed the role of new leaders in the dressing room of a Vilda who remains inflexible in her position. "They have excluded themselves," said the coach in his last press appearance, in which he reiterated that there has been no communication with the 15.
With eight months to go until the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, there are not many reasons to be optimistic and, beyond the momentous event, the price that can be paid for this divorce could be very high. Women's football has never been so divided.
