In his role as commentator on television and radio, Emmanuel Petit had previously denounced his problems in the dressing room of Barcelona, ​​where he played in the 2000-2001 season, but had never been as specific as this week. On the Monegasque radio RMC Sport, where he works, he was questioned at that time and the former Monaco midfielder, Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea did not hold back. "I experienced racism. I lived it in the dressing room of Barcelona," said the French world champion in 1998 and Europe in 2000. "It may be shocking, but it was like that, it was occasionally. Although with some players it happened with quite often. "

"I arrived at a bad time. There was a war in the locker room between Catalan and Dutch players. We also had a coach for Serra Ferrer , who did not have enough strength or charisma necessary to manage the team," said who agreed in the Barça club with players like Pep Guardiola, Sergi Barjuán, Gerard López or some young Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol . Among the Dutch, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Philip Cocu, Frank de Boer, Michael Reiziger and Bolo Zenden stood out .

Years ago, in 2015, Petit had already explained an anecdote that summed up his vision of what was happening at that time in the dressing room of Barcelona: "When I arrived they told me not to learn Spanish, to learn Catalan. I told them I was in Spain and they told me I was in Catalonia. I got fed up with those things. When someone identifies too much, they get very close to racism. "

Gerard López's answer

This Wednesday night, one of his former teammates, Gerard López, answered Petit on the microphones of El Transistor de Onda Cero. "What he has said is very serious, you cannot accuse a racism locker room when it was not like that at all," the former player replied. According to López, the Frenchman's words "are made by the resentment of having passed without grief or glory" through the Camp Nou. "Petit came to Barça thinking that he was going to be captain general and I think he never assimilated that he was a substitute. It doesn't surprise me, because he has already done other eccentricities," López said.

"It's that Alfonso was on that template. Alfonso wears 8 wristbands from Spain on his wrist and nothing happened. Barça can recommend that you learn Catalan, to handle yourself better, but nothing more, it is a recommendation that also seems good to me , he did nothing to learn Spanish or Catalan, "Lopez concluded, later commenting that he actually had a good relationship with Petit although he was" a little weird. "

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  • Pep Guardiola
  • Catalonia
  • Barcelona

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