Real Madrid and Spain right-back Dani Carvajal has claimed that there was no intention to offend anyone during the Euro 2024 celebrations, after members of La Roja chanted ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ to a crowd of thousands in Madrid.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri Hernandez and AC Milan forward Alvaro Morata were the ones audible over the microphone, who started the chant on stage. They were handed one-game bans by UEFA for their actions, and will miss this week’s Nations League clash against Serbia.
Dani Carvajal 🗣️
"It was more of a meme than anything else. I never tried to hurt Jamal but to cut off the counter-attack. He produced a good touch, overtook me and in the end, I tried to grab him — I grabbed him by the neck but I could've grabbed him from another place." (NYT) pic.twitter.com/5no0wuaHc1
— Football España (@footballespana_) September 4, 2024
Carvajal has told The Athletic that it was something of a non-issue though.
“There has been a lot of talk about that but at no time was it something to offend or start a conflict. Simply, Spain has always competed with England for Gibraltar, which is on the Iberian peninsula and it was a final against England.”
“Before the final, there was already a little echo with that chant and we won and (the chant) became a bit more of a joke. If anyone has felt offended, we apologise from the group but come on, at no time did they (England) ever say that they were offended.”
While England did not manifest discontent publicly, Gibraltar did. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo did take significant offence to it, saying that it was the sort of discourse that reminded of the ‘murderer’ Francisco Franco, referencing Spain’s bloodthirsty dictator between 1939 and 1975.
