The recent clashes, on and off the pitch, between Barcelona and Real Madrid were not a good advert for Spanish football as a whole.
Barcelona comfortably went through to the final of the Champions League because they are the best club team in the world, let alone Spain.
Real Madrid blamed everyone but themselves for the 3-1 aggregate defeat. Their in disgrace manager, Jose Mourinho, incited trouble with his vile comments before and after the first game, and prior to the second tie in Barcelona. A match he was suspended from attending in an official capacity.
The one time, so called "translator" to then Barcelona manager Bobby Robson is on record as saying his heart will always belong to Barcelona. As with his pledges of loyalty and devotion to any one club, those comments were taken with a liberal pinch of salt. He may though yet pay a heavy price for admitting after the first leg that Real Madrid stood no chance of going through. That did not go down well with his employers.
In the first game of this tense affair bottles rained down on Barcelona players when they scored two goals. Racist chants directed at their players were also prevalent.
That came as no surprise to me. Spain is without question the most racist country I have lived in. Real Madrid fans know no shame when it comes to making insulting noises and comments in the direction of opposing black players. They overlook the fact that they too have coloured players in their team. Indeed I have even witnessed Madrid fans make monkey chants at their own black players.
That players were also insulting each other in a racist fashion will come as no surprise to anyone in touch with the actuality of life in a country that is, in some regions, intolerant of foreigners.
Madrid players and the management team also blamed the referees of the two games. It is true that some decisions were baffling. It is not true that the refs were biased towards Barcelona. That is simply an attempt by Real to hide their own inadequacies. They are not as good a team as Barcelona. In fact, they are not a team. Yet again the club has spent millions on some of the best individual talent in the world. But Mourinho has no more built a team than any of his recent predecessors at the Bernabéu.
Real Madrid players say that referees give free kicks in favour of Barcelona every time that Lionel Messi falls over. Last night I would say that nine times out of ten, the ref got those decisions right. Or should I say 99 out of 100, as the only answer Real Madrid players have to stop the genius of Messi is to kick, trip or push him. They should look to their own failings before taking the easy option and blaming the ref.
The diving and cheating by both teams in the first leg were abhorent. The persistent attempts to get an opposition player sent off leave a sour taste in the mouth. Mourinho's accusation that UEFA favour Barcelona is as absurd as it is petty. Barcelona do not require the help of any outside body. They are a brilliant team. Real Madrid are not.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has achieved what he has on merit. For Mourinho to suggest that his opposite number should be ashamed of his success, and that he has won previous European titles unfairly, are the words of a spoilt 7 year old child who has just lost a game of subbuteo.
The fact is that for reasons best known to him, Mourinho sent his team out to defend in the home leg of the semi-final. They put eleven men behind the ball for the first hour of that game.
Real Madrid allowed Barcelona to play their passing game for all but the first half hour of the second leg.
Those are the reasons why Real Madrid will not be playing in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium later this month. Not referees. Not UEFA.
The comments made today by some Real Madrid players, including the one trick pony that is Cristiano Ronaldo, are plain childish. Boy! Sir Alex Ferguson knew what he was doing when he offloaded Ronaldo for a small fortune. I doubt any person or business has wasted 80 million pounds in such a fashion. Certainly no football club in Europe has thrown away almost 100 million Euros as Real Madrid did when they signed the petulant Ronaldo.
He threw his toys out of the pram when his manager had him defend rather than attack in the first game. Today he has spat his dummy out and said that next year UEFA may just as well hand Barcelona the trophy before the competition begins.
Even the once mild mannered goalkeeper Iker Casillas lost his cool last night. His brilliant shot stopping kept Real Madrid in the game, but his spiteful words today do him no credit.
Despite the fact that players from Real Madrid and Barcelona largely made up the Spanish team that won the World Cup last year, it is clear that there is no love lost between some of those players.
The rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid is very real in Spain. The hatred has its base in politics and history. As the Spanish hold grudges longer than is good for anyone, and can carry a chip on their shoulders with great pride; that situation will not change in my lifetime.
Jose Mourinho, his coaching staff and players did nothing to calm those troubled waters over the past fortnight. Even the normally mild mannered Guardiola lost his cool. Though his players applauded him for so doing.
Why should footballers and football managers try to heal old scars?
Because Spain as a country will never be a force away from the football arena until it is has buried its own historic differences. The often petty enmity that holds the country back from being a success on the European and World stage, both economically and socially.
In all the noise, bluster and abuse of the past days there was only one person who rose above the foul words, the foul racist chants and the fouls themselves.
Lionel Messi is a class apart.
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