The celebration of the collegiate lunch, absent in the latest matches between Barça and Athletic, brings a breath of serenity into the relations between the two clubs. For months, both entities have been chaining together public reproaches and decisions that have fueled a climate of growing distrust: from the protests sparked by the Negreira case to the tension over the Nico Williams case, through offensive chants and institutional disagreements that seemed to have definitively broken a historically respectful bond. In this scenario, the resumption of the pre-match protocol ritual, an event that will be held in the Camp Nou Spotify box, appears as a minimal but symbolic gesture, a truce that does not resolve the fracture, but which introduces a nuance of détente in a relationship trapped in a dynamic of continuous wear and tear.
The institutional meal will coexist, however, with a live source of tension: Barça’s decision not to put tickets on sale for Athletic fans. The Barça club cites security reasons linked to the return to the Spotify Camp Nou, where there is not yet an access circuit that guarantees the separation of the fans. But the explanation did not reduce the discomfort in the red and white environment, especially among the 468 members who had registered for the draw organized by Athletic when it was still taken for granted that the duel would be played at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc. That prediction – with tickets set at 30 euros – has now left a feeling of resentment that is difficult to defuse, as the change of scenery has ruined the hopes of those lucky ones who intended to travel with their team.
Thus, although the institutional meal is a gesture of courtesy, both clubs face the duel with the certainty that any gesture, on and off the pitch, can rekindle a relationship that has been on the verge of a short circuit for two years, with a distance between the two boards of directors that is more than evident. In the last duel in Barcelona, Jon Uriarte, president of Athletic Club, went directly to the match to avoid the previous meal with Joan Laporta. There was no council meeting on the return trip. The attitude of the president of the culé in the whole affair, Nico Williams, speaking openly about the footballer and joking about his signing with the fans of the culé despite having a contract with Athletic, was not liked within the red and white entity. This was very annoying. “The rules apply to everyone and must be respected”, counterattacked Uriarte in Saudi Arabia in the midst of the debate on the registrations of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor at Barça.
Nico Williams will be one of the names of the match. We will have to see how the Blaugrana fans, who already booed him at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium last season, will welcome him. It was something that hurt him and that the player didn’t understand, and he returns to Barcelona with the desire to take revenge. Ernesto Valverde will decide whether to place him in the starting eleven or whether, due to the groin problems he has been suffering from for some time and which prevent him from playing at his best, to start on the bench and whether he will be in the match against Slavia Prague, in next Wednesday’s Champions League match (21st, Movistar LC).
Culés fans didn’t just remember Nico in Barcelona. They also did it in Bilbao shouting “Nico is culé”, singing this song every time the younger Williams did a good deed. They also sang it while the local fans were saying goodbye to Óscar de Marcos in the last minutes of the match, which really annoyed the fans. athletics.
In this sensitive context, the match presents itself not only as a football test, but also as a new test of coexistence between two clubs whose relationship has deteriorated over the years. Since San Mamés raised his voice in March 2023 with the first major protest over the Negreira case, the gap has not stopped widening between reproaches, offensive chants, institutional coldness and controversy around the figure of Nico Williams.
This being the case, the gesture of sharing the table before the match does not hide the fact that the positions are still distant and that the wounds remain open both in the offices and in the stands. Barça and Athletic come to the meeting aware that the tension is still latent and that the institutional relationship needs something more than a management lunch to return to the normality that once characterized it.
