No Guard-Of-Honor for Barcelona- Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane explains why

Guard of Honor is a way of congratulating a team if the team wins the title before the last matchday. It is a kind of respect shown which has been followed from the very past. However, the tradition seems like it will be broken watching the recent dispute between the two fierce opponents FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Recently, former Real Madrid star and current coach Zinedine Zidane announced that his team won't give the Catalans a guard of honor if they secured La Liga title ahead of the Clasico game to be held at Camp Nou on May 6.

“We will not give a guard of honor, this is my decision. Barcelona didn’t follow the tradition when we won the Club World Cup. This is my decision,” Zidane said.

 

Zinedine Zidane says Real Madrid will not give Barcelona a guard of honour if they win La Liga before El Clasico pic.twitter.com/MLz9rYKIhW

— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 7, 2018

 

Barcelona is 11 points ahead of the close competitor Atletico Madrid in La Liga points table. They just need 3 wins and a draw to capture the title. 9 points lead increased to 11 after the Madrid derby ended 1-1 draw with Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann on the scoresheet.

The defending champions Real Madrid are almost out of the title race but will be focused on Champions League as they the 3-0 lead in the first leg against Seria A leader Juventus.

Barcelona previously refused to give the traditional honor after Real Madrid were crowned the Club Wolrd Cup champions. Guillermo Amor, institutional director of Barcelona denied forming a 'pasillo' mentioning that their club was not the part of the tournament.

Barcelona had also refused to honor Real Madrid as the European Supercup winner when both met shortly afterward in the Spanish Supercup and seems like the same situation will be repeated now.

Although Barcelona refused to honor mentioning a reason, there were times when the non-participant team had performed the tradition on several occasions. Betis and Villarreal grave Barcelona the guard of honor following their Club World Cup victory respectively in 2011 and 2015.

Barcelona's defender Gerard Pique seems quite unconvinced by the Frenchman's decision and has responded sarcastically.  'I'm not going to sleep tonight', talking to Spanish media, Pique said.

 

Love this from Pique when asked how he feels about Real not giving Barcelona a guard of honour.

"I won't sleep at night" pic.twitter.com/r8DRm1lxtZ

— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) April 8, 2018

 

He added:

'The all-time unbeaten record is the result of getting things right all season. We had a great first half and then eased off in the second. The important thing is that we are still comfortably poised at the top of the table.'