Spain’s FA condemns Islamophobic chants during game with Egypt

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and coach Luis de la Fuente have condemned anti-Muslim chants that marred the 0-0 draw with Egypt in Barcelona during a pre-World Cup friendly.

Egypt’s national anthem was jeered ahead of the game on Tuesday, and the public announcement system at RCDE Stadium appealed to fans more than once to refrain from making offensive comments.

It was the latest in a string of similar incidents to overshadow Spanish football in recent years, with Real Madrid’s Brazilian attacker Vinicius Junior in particular repeatedly racially abused.

“What we’ve done is condemn these kinds of attitudes and to say they must not be repeated,” said Rafael Louzan, president of RFEF.

He called them “specific and isolated situations”.

De la Fuente also condemned the behaviour of a section of the 35,000-strong crowd.

“It’s intolerable,” he told reporters as soon as he sat down in the media room.

“Violent people use football to carve out a space for themselves.

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

The game in Catalonia was moved from Qatar due to the war in the Middle East, and was played out in a hostile environment from the start.

The European champions were wasteful in attack in their penultimate friendly on home turf before they face Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H in North America this June and July.

Spain are reportedly set to play Iraq on June 4 before playing Peru in Mexico four days later in their final games before the World Cup.

Veteran coach De la Fuente made 10 changes from Friday’s 3-0 friendly win over Serbia, with Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal the only player to keep his place.

Egypt were without their talisman, Mohamed Salah, with the Liverpool attacker sidelined since suffering a muscle problem against Galatasaray on March 18.

The English club are hopeful he could return in this weekend’s FA Cup quarterfinal against Manchester City.

The hosts had the best of the early chances with Ferran Torres unlucky not to score after 20 minutes.

Just before the half-hour mark, against the run of play, Egypt’s Manchester City attacker Omar Marmoush hit the post, underlining his side’s potential at the World Cup when they face Belgium, Iran and New Zealand in Group G.

The hosts took control again after the break, with Pedri denied after 57 minutes and Cristhian Mosquera’s header edged wide 13 minutes later.

With six minutes to go, Egypt were reduced to 10 men with defensive midfielder Hamdy Fathy being shown a second yellow card.

Two minutes later, De la Fuente’s side wasted another chance with left-back Alejandro Grimaldo hitting the crossbar in their final chance to break the deadlock.