Barça coach Valverde gives his opinion on guard of honour debate
Valverde thinks it's not as significant as it one was
Barcelona will not give Madrid a guard of honour
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde played down the importance of the debate surrounding whether or not his team should give Real Madrid a guard of honour on Saturday.
Real Madrid won the Club World Cup last weekend but Barça have said they will not give them a guard of honour at the Bernabeu.
The Catalan club explained that they do not normally perform such rituals when a club has won a competition which they were not part of.
Valverde said: "This matter is something that years ago you used to do, a symbolic way of welcoming players or a player on to the pitch and it wasn’t surrounded with all this media hoohaa like it is today.
"Yes, we have to respect what Madrid have done this year… as for the guard of honour I don’t think I did it as a player, I didn’t expect people to do it for me, either. That tradition has been lost a bit in Spanish football."
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