The guard of honour, or ‘pasillo’, is a traditional sign of respect given to league title winners but Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has decided his players will not be lining up outside the tunnel for Barcelona when La Liga champions run out for El Clasico at the Camp Nou on Sunday.
It’s a tradition that has happened in past meetings between the Spanish giants but Zidane insists his team will not do it this time.
“We are not going to give them a pasillo,” the Madrid coach said recently. “It’s my decision and that’s it. I don’t really understand this thing about the pasillo, so in the end it’s not going to happen.”
The Frenchman noted that Barcelona didn’t provide a guard of honour for Real when they played at the Bernabeu following Madrid’s success in the Club World Cup in December. At the time, the Catalan club said it was policy to give the pasillo when it plays in the same competition as its opponent.
Barcelona defender Jordi Alba insisted his team would have provided a guard of honour if Real had won the league.
“Barcelona has done it for Madrid in the past, even at the Bernabeu,” Alba said. “But each team can make its own decision and it has to be respected.”
Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos played down the tradition and said the team will follow the manager’s decision.
“We are giving too much attention to the pasillo,” Ramos said this week. “They have the title, which is what they wanted. The pasillo doesn’t mean anything to them or to us. We’ve said that it’s not going to happen and it’s not going to happen. That’s it.”
It’s been 10 years since the last guard of honour happened between the rival clubs. Barcelona did it for Madrid in the Bernabeu when Los Blancos had mathematically won the league prior to the home game against their rivals.
Madrid did it for Barcelona in 1991 when the local crowd in the Bernabeu jeered as the Barca players entered the field of play. And, Barcelona gave the guard of honour at the Camp Nou after Real had won the league title in 1988.
