The Observer breaks his silence after 41 years at Barcelona
Francesc Satorra spoke about his time at the club, including the Tito Vilanova and Jose Mourinho incident
Francesc Satorra, known by many as ‘The Observer’, has given his first interview to the programme Tu Diras on RAC1, now that he has retired as a Barcelona employee. After receiving a nice homage at Camp Nou against Levante, Satorra spoke to the radio station.
“I was an employee and I could not do interviews without the permission of the club,” he said. “It was very emotional (his goodbye), there was an event that I didn’t know about. They didn’t tell me there would be a homage. The president took me to the first row of the box and I appeared on the screens. I will remember it forever.”
Satorra’s last working game was against Real Sociedad. “I did the same as normal. I took some photographs on the pitch at Camp Nou. I didn’t pay attention to the rules and I went on the pitch. It’s been 41 seasons at Barca. I started with Nunez. I’ve done everything. Maxenchs always took me to the press are and I had to look after the journalists.”
The most controversial moment of his time at Barca was the incident where Jose Mourinho poked Tito Vilanova in the eye.
“The moment between Tito and Mourinho was one of the worst brawls I’ve seen at Camp Nou. It was near the end of the game (Spanish Super Cup). I came out and I found Mourinho going to greet Tito but he poked him in the eye. Couldn’t believe it for a few seconds, Tito took it out. That image appeared all over the world.”
That changed his life. “They told me it was a trending topic, I didn’t know what it meant at the time. After that they called me the Observer, now that’s something that forms part of my image. From that day people wanted to take photographs with me. They made shirts with my picture on. And many players have wanted to take photos with me.”
Satorra said, of Mourinho: “I had a good relationship with him. He was a normal person. We always greeted each other, given that he had been at Barcelona with us. He was a very close person. Later he won titles, coached at the top level and maybe he changed a bit… how you act and behave changes you.”
