Boixos Chicos, flares and jail sentences: the derby that changed everything

BarcelonaThe last Espanyol-Barça derby at Montjuïc was played on Saturday, September 27, 2008, a dark night that could have ended in tragedy. It is known as the derby of the flares, those launched by the fans. Boixos Chicos From the away section of the stadium, located high above one of the goals, towards the stand below, occupied by home fans, many of them with their families.

Although they could no longer enter the Camp Nou, some 300 Barcelona ultras attended the derby. They simply had to pay the €60 ticket price through the Boixos Nois website and pick it up on the afternoon of the match at Bar Virginia on Travessera Street. Days earlier, also via social media, the group had announced its intention to "give Espanyol the send-off they deserved from Barcelona" – later, the Espanyol club stated that the flare incident had been "premeditated and promoted online."

Security checks at the stadium entrance were too lax, and the Boixos, who had already lit several flares on their way to Montjuïc, managed to smuggle a good number into the stands. were prohibitedIn the 66th minute, with the score at 1-0, the radicals unleashed panic by throwing six flares at the home fans, endangering the lives of hundreds. The referee, Medina Cantalejo, stopped the match, and while tears and fear gripped many of those present at the stadium, a group of home supporters tore down one of the fences separating them from the pitch in an attempt to take justice into their own hands.

Running on the athletics track

"They wanted to get onto the pitch to go after those who had thrown the flares. Being Argentinian, I was a bit more used to these kinds of situations, so I spoke to some of the fans to calm them down," reveals Nico Pareja, who was playing in his first Barcelona derby. Manolo González, Espanyol's physiotherapist, was also intervening to prevent further problems, while Pep Guardiola, who had yet to win a title as Barcelona's coach, was giving instructions to his players, and Dani Jarque, Espanyol's captain, was trying to find out if Medina Cantalejo Calzón would definitively suspend the match.

The tension moved to the VIP box, with Joan Laporta taking center stage, sitting next to Dani Sánchez Llibre, his Espanyol counterpart, with whom he didn't have a very good relationship following the Saviola caseThe home crowd criticized the visiting fans' behavior, and the Barcelona president, visibly agitated, responded. "I won't let them in!" he repeated over and over, recalling the insults and death threats he had received for... kick the radicals out of Camp Nou, one of his greatest triumphs.

Laporta also confronted Sebastián Javier, the Espanyol vice-president and a man of peace, who was standing right behind Sánchez Llibre. The owner of Grup Tarradellas approached the Barcelona president, grabbing him by the shoulder, and Laporta, enraged, turned to shout "Don't touch me!" several times, an expression that has become one of the outbursts The most memorable moments of the current FC Barcelona president.

Gerard Piqué's celebration

Nine minutes later, the match resumed, and FC Barcelona came back to win with a goal from Henry – two more flares were lit after the 1-1 equalizer – and another from Eto'o from the penalty spot, awarded after Pareja fouled Messi, a year before the Argentine won his first Ballon d'Or. "It wasn't a foul... but without VAR it was harder to compete with the big teams," said the Espanyol player. Immediately after the Argentine star made it 1-2, Medina Cantalejo blew the final whistle, and some Barcelona players, such as Gerard Piqué, celebrated from a distance with the traveling fans, the same ones who had set off the flares. Espanyol condemned Piqué's behavior and his apparent complicity with the Boixos Nois, the genesis of a rivalry taken to the extreme between the Espanyol fans and the now-former Barça player, a rivalry in which red lines have been crossed far too often.

The derby of the flares resulted in five arrests – three of whom were sentenced to three years in prison – three minor injuries and one serious head injury, a €3,000 fine for Espanyol, and the implementation of a rule, still in force, that has changed history: since the 20th, it has been illegal to wear any symbols of the opposing team, whether the match is played at Cornellà-El Prat, Montjuïc, or Camp Nou. This means that wearing Barça colors is prohibited at Saturday's derby.