“In Coruña, people sit around on the sea walls or the rocks and stare out to sea, as if they expect Francis Drake to turn up again and sack the city. A contemplative lot, the Galicians.” — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“There is so much morbo festering between these two sides that they would have to employ a very powerful priest to exorcise the phenomenon,… — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“Barcelona fans labor under the touchingly innocent belief that everyone else in the world, apart from Real Madrid and Espanyol fans, is happy to… — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“Regions remembered who had fought for whom, and they have not forgotten. Football grounds grew up out of the divided earth and have not… — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“I reserve the right to do what I like" he (Manuel Ruíz de Lopera) announced to the press, a statement that rather sums up… — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“The essential absurdity of football - that it has become so important - is nine-tenths of the poetry.” — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“The terrible beauty of Spanish football is that someone, somewhere, hates your guts and will always be delighted to demonstrate this when your team… — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“Que se jodan.'It was as if the girl had summed up, in three words, the way Spanish regions really feel about each other.” — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
“In Coruña, people sit around on the sea walls or the rocks and stare out to sea, as if they expect Francis Drake to… — Phil Ball Copy Share Image
