I think the author does an interesting job of trying to show the similarities between Cataluña and Madrid, but I’m not sure if this actually is true. The Catalans prove that they are not okay being under Madrid’s power by setting up movements using their large big money maker the article mentions, FC Barcelona.
This article show why I disagree with the other article.
The players that the article mention are pretty meaningful in terms of symbolism of soccer for Spain. The Catalans have proved that they are equal, if not better, as seen through both articles talking about how many Catalans are on the national team.
A really interesting quote from the second article on the Spanish take on football from their national teams head coach:
“The Spain coach also looked ahead to the 2014 World Cup finals, admitting that even though Spain were defending champions, “The normal thing is for us not to win it and that is a good thing…” [and] “We need that insecurity against our rivals, who are all good (Spain will face Holland, Chile and eAustralia in the group stage). In the past nobody expected us to get past the quarter finals and now everyone expects us to win. We need to measure our optimism and that is not easy,” he said.