Paco Buyo
recalls
that in his time as a Real Madrid player (1986-97) he had teammates who refused to kick corners when the team had to play at El Sadar.
Many years after that, a world champion with Spain confessed in awe after his first visit to Pamplona that, if it were up to him, he would never play at the red stadium again.
And another Paco, surnamed
Pavón
(2001-07), sums it up with one sentence: «The visits to Pamplona were wonderful ... until you entered the countryside.
In the city we received the affection of many Madridistas and the respect of those who were not, but then ... ».
Perhaps in a list of the most famous rivalries in Spanish football, the one that Real Madrid and Osasuna have maintained since the 80s does not find space, but few like her have aroused such intense passion, which has been derived from the violence in the years of the Transition to the healthy intensity with which these games are currently being lived in El Sadar.
An Osasuna-Madrid is always one of the big events on the calendar, but tonight it will not be, because what makes it unique will be missing, the Red fans.
An always hot and passionate fan that breaks the decibel meter with each visit of the white team.
The Transition and nationalism
Osasuna's promotion to First Division in 1980 after almost two decades of absence fixed the beginning of the rivalry.
These are years of recently released freedom in Spain and the rise of radical nationalism both in Navarra and in the Basque Country.
A cocktail that, in football, explodes in visits to Madrid's Sadar, a team that in national circles, related to the group of radical fans Indar Gorri, served as a symbol of the Spanish imperialism they sought to fight.
“There was a lot of tension in society and that translated into a public disposition, in addition to the sporting one, a little different.
It was a way of getting the adrenaline that part of society had inside at that time and there he let off steam ", explains
Enrique Martín Monreal
, the red-haired protagonist of that decade (1979-88) as a footballer and later coach and quarry technician in Tajonar.
«There were political overtones that loaded these parties with too much tension, with the soft hand of the Federation and the Competition Committees.
We knew in advance what we were going to find.
San Mamés and Atocha were also fields marked by those political overtones, but El Sadar was by far the most aggressive.
It was worth everything to intimidate the contrary, they could throw all kinds of objects at us because there was no heavy hand.
The sanctions were very light and sometimes images were even censored on television, "adds Buyo.
A screw thrown at Valdano
The Galician goalkeeper remained, much to his regret, as an icon of that rivalry sometimes led to vandalism.
In January 1989, a firecracker launched from the stands in minute 43 reached him and the referee decided to suspend the match.
The remaining 47 minutes would be played behind closed doors at La Romareda, Madrid achieving a 1-1 draw.
A little more than two years earlier, in 1986, the victims were
Jorge Valdano
and
Ricardo Gallego
.
The Argentine received the impact of a screw in the head and the Madrilenian that of a chestnut in the eye.
«The problem was in a background, a specific corner, and it had nothing to do with Real Madrid, but they took advantage of when Real Madrid went to make more trouble.
The rest of the field was great to us.
I have been to Pamplona several times when
Camacho
was
coach and they have always treated me with affection.
We knew what was going to happen and where the problem was going to be concentrated.
There was a lot of pressure, but the referee probably suffered more than us », recalls the Real Madrid player Gallego (1980-89).
“At that time people would go a little crazy and lose their roles.
You cannot go to football to throw firecrackers, coins, lighters ... Thank God, everything has improved and people behave much better », recalls Osasunista
Patxi Ripodas
(1979-89).
In that decade, Madrid only achieved two wins and two draws in their nine visits to Sadar.
"This environmental pressure was very good for us in order to have more intensity and the opposing team was annoyed and generated a lot of insecurity, because the pressure was very high," confesses Martín Monreal.
The passing of the years and the progressive maturity of the society was reducing the aggressiveness of the Osasuna-Real Madrid.
They have continued to be matches with a hostile environment with the Whites, but the incidents were increasingly anecdotal and isolated.
Coincidence or not, the results have been increasingly favoring Madrid: in the 21 league games played since 1990, Osasuna has only achieved four victories, the last in January 2011.
The party, however, has continued to be marked in red on the calendar of any Osasunista.
«It has always been a special match.
The Sadar is a more English-like stadium in which a lot of pressure is generated, with people very close to the pitch.
Each game was a continuous bombardment of songs in our favor and against them », recalls the historic captain
César Cruchaga
(1997-2009).
Pavón, of course, sees it differently: «People were very close, putting a lot of pressure, it was very unpleasant for us.
It was worse to warm up than to play, because if you were in the band you had them so close that they did everything to you.
In any other field, you would go out to warm up and you could stop to stretch or stay still.
There when you warmed up you had to be in motion all the time and without stopping.
Because you felt like you were going to the fair and they shot you with a shotgun ».
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