Abuse overshadows a scoreless draw

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Spain coach Luis de la Fuente have condemned anti-Muslim chants that disrupted Tuesday’s 0-0 pre-World Cup friendly against Egypt in Barcelona.

Egypt’s national anthem was jeered before kick-off at RCDE Stadium, and the stadium’s public address system was forced to make repeated appeals for fans to stop making offensive remarks. In other words, the evening did not exactly begin in the spirit of international friendship.

RFEF president Rafael Louzán said the federation had “condemn[ed] these kinds of attitudes and to say they must not be repeated,” describing them as “specific and isolated situations.”

De la Fuente was even more direct, calling the conduct of part of the 35,000-strong crowd “intolerable.”

“Violent people use football to carve out a space for themselves,” he told reporters immediately after taking his seat in the media room.

“They must be removed from society, identified, and kept as far away as possible,” the 64-year-old added.

Another unwanted headline for Spanish football

The incident is the latest in a series of episodes that have repeatedly embarrassed Spanish football in recent years, with Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior among the most prominent targets of racist abuse.

The match in Catalonia had already been relocated from Qatar because of the war in the Middle East, and the atmosphere turned hostile from the outset.

Spain, the European champions, were wasteful in front of goal in their penultimate home friendly before they head to North America for the World Cup, where they will face Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H in June and July.

Reports suggest Spain are scheduled to play Iraq on June 4, then Peru in Mexico four days later, in their final matches before the tournament.

Spain dominate without finding a goal

De la Fuente made 10 changes from Spain’s 3-0 friendly win over Serbia on Friday. Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal was the only player to keep his place in the starting lineup.

Egypt were without Mohamed Salah, their main attacking threat. The Liverpool forward has been sidelined since suffering a muscle problem against Galatasaray on March 18, though his club hope he may still be available for this weekend’s FA Cup quarterfinal against Manchester City.

Spain created the better chances early on, with Ferran Torres unlucky not to score after 20 minutes.

Then, just before the half-hour mark and against the run of play, Egypt nearly took the lead when Manchester City forward Omar Marmoush struck the post. The moment served as a reminder that Egypt could still cause problems at the World Cup, where they will meet Belgium, Iran and New Zealand in Group G.

After the break, Spain again took control. Pedri was denied after 57 minutes, and Cristhian Mosquera headed narrowly wide 13 minutes later.

Egypt were reduced to 10 men with six minutes left when defensive midfielder Hamdy Fathy received a second yellow card.

Two minutes later, Spain wasted their final big chance to break the deadlock, as left-back Alejandro Grimaldo clipped the crossbar.

The goals never came. The chants, unfortunately, did.