Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on Monday said that the loud protest for independence from the nearly 100,000 fans, mostly Catalonian, at the Camp Nou for Sunday’s Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid reflected badly on Spain, which sits at the crux of the economic crisis currently plaguing countries in the European Union.

"A country which portrays an image of internal divide during the turbulent times which we live in, at a time when all of the countries of the world are competing for scarce capital; offering an image of discord instead of an image of joint effort, is portraying a bad image in my opinion", said José Manuel García-Margallo.

The Spanish official was referring to the politically charged display of a mosaic of Catalan flags in the audience in addition to a unified chant for independence at 17 minutes and 14 seconds into the first half, symbolic for the 11th of September 1714, also known as Catalonia Day, when Barcelona fell in the War of Succession. A banner could also be seen containing the words “Catalonia next European state.