Barcelona Director slams Nazi banner discovered in away end during Monaco clash

Barcelona’s Institutional Vice-President Elena Fort has tweeted out her disgust after a Nazi banner was seen during the Blaugrana’s clash with AS Monaco in the Champions League on Thursday night.

At the end of the match, a photo of the fans giving the players a reception revealed an unfortunate banner in the Barcelona end reading ‘Flick heil’. In German, it means ‘hail Flick’, but references the now infamous ‘Sieg heil’ [hail victory] or ‘Heil Hitler’ [Hail Hitler] in Germany, which was used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during his reign of terror and murder of millions of Jews. The salute and phrase are punishable by up to three years in jail in Germany.

Fort responded to the banner publicly on Twitter/X, although it is not yet clear whether any action will be taken.

“Despicable. Disgraceful. Disgusting and sad that someone who claims to love the Club acts like this. Everything has a limit. It can never be repeated again. Never again.”

This is the second time an incident of this nature has occurred this year, report Diario AS, who say that two fans were arrested by French police in Paris for using the Nazi salute during an away trip to Paris Saint-Germain. The two members were then suspended by Barcelona too. The radical group ‘Boixos Nois’ [Crazy boys] were expelled from the stadium by Barcelona long ago, and have strong links to the far-right, often sporting Nazi memorabilia. Seemingly, the remnants of that group continue to hang around.