Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FOOTBALL

‘Gibraltar is Spanish!’: How Spain celebrated Euro 2024 heroes

Tens of thousands of people in Madrid welcomed Spain's champions home on Monday after beating England in the Euro 2024 final, with the standout chant during celebrations being "Gibraltar is Spanish".

Published: 16 July 2024 10:02 CEST
'Gibraltar is Spanish!': How Spain celebrated Euro 2024 heroes
Spanish national football team players celebrate on the stage at Cibeles Square, with Spain fans, on July 15, 2024, after Spain won the UEFA Euro 2024 final football match between Spain and England. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Spain’s national football team returned home on Monday afternoon, posing with the trophy on the runway where their plane landed. 

La Roja with the Euro 2024 trophy at Madrid’s Barajas airport. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

They then had receptions with King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with the general sense among commentators that the players seemed happier to meet the monarch than the premier. 

In fact, a video showing right-back Dani Carvajal not looking Sánchez in the eye as he gave him a very brief handshake has gone viral. The defender has been outspoken in the past about his right-wing views. 

“We want a lot,” Sánchez said. “We want more”.

La Roja were then paraded through the capital city on an open-top bus adorned with the message “it’s only the beginning”, as the trophy sat at the front of the bus.

The likes of Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Sunday’s match-winner in Berlin, Mikel Oyarzabal, wore white t-shirts with the number four on them in reference to the record number of times Spain have won the European Championship.

“For now, we’re not realising yet what we have accomplished,” Williams said.

The attacker, who scored the opening goal of the 2-1 victory, was also eager to thank Spain’s fans “for the love and warmth they brought the team”.

Spanish national football team players parade on board of a bus as thousands of fans gather to celebrate. (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)

The team bus took them to Plaza Cibeles in central Madrid where thousands more fans waited to celebrate the success, following on from victories in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

Captain Alvaro Morata, who has been open about suffering mental health problems due to the onslaught of criticism he has received on social media over the years, surprised everyone by acting as the master of ceremonies as he introduced each and every one of the players and coach with humour and energy. 

In fact, it was Morata who interrupted the player callout with the first ¡Gibraltar es español! (Gibraltar is Spanish!) chant, which the crowd of Spaniards watching joined in singing. 

This was of course in reference to the fact that they had just beaten England, also reflecting that many in Spain are still frustrated about the fact that there’s an overseas British territory annexed to the Spanish mainland.

When Spain beat the Three Lions on Sunday, hundreds of cars honked their horns in La Línea at the Spain-Gibraltar border.

Midfield maestro Rodri, chosen as MVP of the tournament, also started the Gibraltar chant later during celebrations in Madrid, after which he was reminded by Morata that “you play in England, mate”.

Gibraltar has already lodged an official complaint and The Rock’s leader Fabian Picardo called the chants “worse than disgusting”.

Spain’s celebrations also included musical performances by renowned Spanish artists and some out-of-key singing by the players and coach Luis de La Fuente themselves, some of the former appearing to be fairly inebriated. 

De La Fuente also took the opportunity to tell the millions of people watching on TV that a “united Spain is stronger”, in reference to Basque and Catalan separatist sentiments. 

READ ALSO: Do Catalans and Basques support the Spanish football team?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLITICS

Catalan separatist wanted by Spain vows to return

Exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Saturday vowed to return to Spain to attend a regional presidential debate expected in a few weeks even though he could be arrested.

Published: 27 July 2024 17:49 CEST
Catalan separatist wanted by Spain vows to return

The controversial figure fled abroad in 2017 to avoid prosecution over a botched independence bid that year, and has since been wanted by the Spanish justice system.

Puigdemont risks being arrested if he returns to Spain, where he has been charged with terrorism, embezzlement and high treason.

Puigdemont said Saturday that returning to Spain “is what I committed to do and it is what we’re going to do”.

This was his first public address since the Spanish Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that an amnesty law for Catalan separatists would not apply to him.

READ ALSO: Several Catalan separatists return to Spain after amnesty

“My obligation is to go to the (Catalan) Parliament if there is a nomination debate. I will be there,” he told a rally of his Together for Catalonia party in southwestern France near the border with Spain.

Puigdemont said he hoped that if he returned, “the authorities would avoid what would be an illegal detention, an arbitrary detention”.

The politician, who was Catalonia’s regional president at the time of the failed secession, would have been the best-known beneficiary of the new law. Legal action against several other separatists has already been dropped.

He is also being investigated for “terrorism offences” for mass street protests in 2019, a charge that is not covered by the amnesty.

The independence figurehead had hoped to be elected president of Catalonia when his party came in second in elections in May, but lacked sufficient votes in parliament.

READ ALSO: Catalan independence for beginners: Five key points

Puigdemont’s separatists lost to a member of Spain’s ruling socialist party, Salvador Illa, who has been negotiating with the other major independence formation for the presidency.

Fresh elections will be called in October if parties do not name a president by August 26.

“There will be no more electoral campaigns in exile,” said Puigdemont, who campaigned for the Catalan elections from neighbouring France.

“No, the next election campaigns will be there (in Catalonia), and I will be there,” he said.

SHOW COMMENTS