Catalan protest platform Tsunami Democràtic had said it would make its voice heard during today's Clásico fixture between Barça and Real Madrid. As the players took to the pitch and fans in the stands help up coloured posters to form a large senyera Catalan flag, they unfurled two large banners.

The first bore their hashtag, #SpainSitAndTalk, the second the simple message "Freedom". They were both in English, the protesters targeting their message at the global audience for one of the biggest matches in the world.

But the protests weren't just visual. There were also the now habitual shouts of "independence" and "release the political prisoners" before and during the match, especially 17:14 into the first half. 11th September 1714 is commemorated, not least by Catalonia's national day, for the fall of Barcelona near the end of the War of the Spanish Succession.