Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has already publicly confirmed that his side will not form a guard of honour for Barcelona next month.
The Catalan giants sit 11 points clear at the top of the La Liga table with just six games remaining, and so by the time of El Clasico on May 6, they may have already been crowned champions as they host rivals Real Madrid at the Nou Camp.
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As noted by the Metro, Zidane told the media earlier this month that his side were not going to give Barca a guard of honour, as he argued that they had broken that tradition earlier this season when they didn’t do so for Los Blancos after their Club World Cup triumph.
Some might argue that it’s disrespectful while others would say that it’s unnecessary anyway, but La Liga president Javier Tebas has seemingly sided with Madrid on this one as he has backed their decision.
“I would have liked for the tradition to have been maintained,” he told AS. “But if it’s to humiliate a rival, I don’t like it. I prefer it to be left to one side for some time until we return to having common sense.
“It’s a decision by the clubs. But what I sense is that it’s not a homage to the champions but rather, especially with Barca and Madrid, a humiliation.”
In truth, it is a nice touch to see sides offer a guard of honour to show their respect to the champions, regardless of rivalry.
However, a congratulatory message should surely be enough, as Tebas rightly suggests, for Madrid to do it at the Nou Camp against their greatest rivals, it really would be a humiliation for the players and an opportunity to leave them open to mocking from supporters both at the stadium and online.