El Clasico: Barcelona coach Valverde urges for an incident-free & respectful match

Ahead of the much-anticipated El Classico, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde on Tuesday said that the fans can protest against the match if they want, but they must remain respectful in the LaLiga clash between the two Spanish giants. Barcelona and Real Madrid were originally expected to play on October 26, 2019. However, Catalonian protests forced RFEF to postpone the fixture. In November, both the teams agreed with LaLiga for the fixture to be played on December 18. The clash which bears decades-old rivalry is bound to have fans chanting and adrenaline gushing, however, after Sunday's second division match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete which had to be abandoned due to offensive chanting pegged the Barcelona coach to urge the supporters to not cross the line. 

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'Football should unite people, not separate them'

Addressing the press conference on Tuesday said, "Fans can express themselves freely as long as they respect everyone." He added that he does not know what will happen after the game was suspended earlier but stated that football should unite everybody, not separate them. Valverde reflected upon the decision to call off the game and criticised it. He also hoped for the game to end without any extreme incidents. "I think it is better to play the match and return to normality. The fans can express themselves however they want, but the game will be played tomorrow. We’re used to a lot of attention being focused on our matches and we know what everyone is saying on the outside, but all we’re worried about is the match and playing well for 90 minutes.”

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Reports in Britain had suggested that the Catalan protest group 'Democratic Tsunami' are planning to protest during the game. They have also threatened to block the streets leading to the stadium with more than 20,000 people expected to participate in the protest. Democratic Tsunami have been advocating for the independence of Catalonia and have targetted El Clasico as a major platform to voice their protests.

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Barcelona lead in LaLiga

Barcelona are leading the LaLiga points table with 35 points. Real Madrid have the same number of points and are placed second in the table. The LaLiga leaders drew against Real Sociedad in their recent clash with both sides scoring two past each other. Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez scored for Barcelona to salvage a point for their side. Real Madrid, on the other hand, drew against Valencia with strikes from Carlos Soler and Karim Benzema for their respective teams. 

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