The Bernabeu, the couch of Argentina

There are things that only happen in Argentina , especially in Buenos Aires.

"You do realize that my personal trainer is a psychologist...? And lacanian!". Forty and a few, a father of three young children and concerned about their physical appearance, the man was in ecstasy: he had confirmed that his personal trainer (personal, in Argentina is always in English) I knew of psychology and was, in addition, your school of choice and not freudian. Because in Argentina all is well, one is defined according to the various t-shirts you are wearing. And the obsession with psychology is, perhaps, the correlate logic of a society that never leaves the couch . The last conversation of the troubled country at this point exhausted psychoanalyst discusses his inability to organize a game of football, about his frustration and powerlessness in the face of the River Mouth that will be played today in Madrid.

Can the reader say that nor Spain comes out of that couch , but they are different cases, because Spain may be the mother country of Argentina (a label that many dislike), but the argentinians are essentially italians. And there lies the crux of the matter. Is incomprobable and it sounds paradoxical, but it makes sense: if the argentines were more spaniards, the end probably would not have left Buenos Aires.

let's See what happens in any bar in Madrid.

the customer is Spanish and is layered at the bar: "oh, give me a cane!". He says almost shouting, and with total self-confidence, is the bar of your whole life, or one who has just set foot for the first time.

Enter the argentine client, is about to the bar without losing some distance and, with a voice more gentle, he says to the waiter: "can I ask you a cane?". After years and years of dealing with argentines it is likely that the waiter does not respond anymore as it did some years ago: "Yes you can". And they hope that the argentine is wanted.

The literal is the large gap between the argentine and the Spanish , so many things have in common. In Spain is the bread, bread, and wine, wine. There are No second readings in the daily conversation. The argentine, in turn, rejects the double meaning, because it is at this height, the triple or quadruple sense, an exercise that fascinates the country -what I wanted to say really?-, but that can be puzzling, exhausting and unapproachable for a Spanish-language fact and law. And ends up confusing to Argentina itself, to the point of being forced to move great sporting pride at the other end of the Atlantic.

At the end of the years 90 in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium drew attention to the songs that seep from the stands in a full party. the "Hello North end!" , sang a few. the "Hello Fund South!" , answered the other. The naiveté that emanated from these stands was not circumstantial, it was (is) a way of being. In 1999, Spain lost the first round of the Davis Cup to Brazil in Lerida. After a tie in which the audience in the stands sang "what a boat the mayor!", within five minutes of the completion of the disposal, Alex Corretja organized a train the are of I ll survive Gloria Gaynor . They were celebrating after the defeat and the entire audience sang with them. Don't have to explain what would happen in a stadium in argentina if they lose at home in the first round of the Davis. Have fun singing with Glory post-defeat would be a guarantee of crucifixion at the popular level and in the media.

In the fateful attempt of the second end, the second leg, on Saturday, November 24 at the estadio Monumental, home of River, Gianni Infantino , president of FIFA, he was amazed with the framework prior to the meeting. In full sun, on a perfect day the end of the spring buenos aires, all the Monumental sang from an hour and a half before the start of the match, something impossible to see in Spain, where the public covers the stands just minutes from the start. Sang, sang and sang. What he sang? He did so in favor of your team, of course, but the end of one of the songs, an ode of love to the team, was very clear: "Let's kill all the bosteros" .

"It's a cantito of football", it can be argued, and it is true that what is. But when on a sunny Saturday afternoon the father, the mother and her children sing out in a loud voice that they are going to kill someone, in this case the swells opponent, something begins to become clear: the problem of Argentina is not with the bars bravas, is with your society , which has naturalized the violence. And it happens not only in the River, of course, in all the argentine football, and in even further.

In Spain there are the Ultrasur and the Boixos Nois, and just four years ago that a supporter of Deportivo La Coruña was thrown into the Manzanares in Madrid in the middle of a battle with supporters of Atletico and died. But the scale is incomparable, the day-to-day Spanish would be severely threatened if you were suffering from the disease in argentina, which consists of or is agreed with the bars bravas or not you can manage a club. the These bars have been formed in a supra-power which is already above the football and politics , that years ago they believed they could take advantage of these violent as the shock force, and maintain control. Not anymore, and the same can be said of the justice and security forces, very suspicious action in the latest outbreak of violence that marred the match at the Monumental.

as Well as Infantino was thrilled with the show (impressive show) of the songs in the Monumental, would also see the other side: in the Monumental insulted him and spit on him. It did the same with the president of Conmebol, Alejandro Dominguez , and with the AFA, Claudio Tapia .

"I'm Not surprised it happens," said Rafael Estrella, who in his years as ambassador of Spain in Argentina, he met many courts and saw a lot of football: "I attracted a lot of attention to the degree of bad blood between the clubs." And outlines a theory. "I think that Diego Maradona was a great idol of soccer, but it has not helped to create a culture of civic sense".

Maradona, an Italian from Napoli in addition to argentina, has that that Lionel Messi , inevitably Spanish in addition to argentine, did not have: the fourfold sense, the irony hurtful, the phrase adjacent to what violent if the decision is that of laminar to one that does not match. Again: Argentina is, and especially in its major cities, culturally Italian, with all the good and bad that it may have. There are a lot of Italian blood in Messi and Maradona. And tons of talent. But they are different. Messi is Spanish, He is Italian, and not only for the countries in the that shone as players.

The fans of Boca and River, who had arrived to Madrid come to live with a harmony and civility that often do not show when they are at home . Is it because the vast majority of the bars did not arrive to Spain? Is it because the environment in Argentina is so corrupt that drives the chaos, evil? Is it because when you see that in Spain, they live different, but the end of the world is a thing of every day, they end up adapting and imitating the host? Perhaps a little of all three things.

there was Much talk about the Copa Libertadores of America become in Cup Conquerors of Europe . It is, in any case, the Conmebol which was left to "conquer" and to her note the questions and any question by a change of venue, never explained with seriousness. Meanwhile, the argentines can thank and respond to the unusual sociological experiment this evening in the Bernabeu. is On the Bottom South will sit down to 25,000 Boca fans in the North end, as many other River . There will be a "hello North end, hi Fund south!", there is no doubt, but perhaps of Madrid some carried the vivid memory of who you were and ceased to be.

Sebastian Fest is a journalist in argentina.

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