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No one needs to be reminded of racism in soccer: the xenophobia, the nativism and, yes, nationalism.

Spain used to be very individualistic in its sporting activities. Now we are showing we are pretty good in teams - that is an improvement.

The Confederations Cup is interesting. It served Spain very well to take part and then go on to win the 2010 World Cup. We knew the stadiums, the atmosphere, the conditions and also the difficulties of a tournament which simulated the World Cup format.

In a unified and diverse Spain, based on the equality of and solidarity between its people, there is room for all of us. And for all of our feelings and sensitivities and our distinct ways of being Spaniards.

Millions of Spaniards have Catalonia in their hearts.

In Spain, we should have enough intelligence, enough sense of individual and collective responsibility to do for ourselves that which would be imposed upon us by a dictatorship.

In Spain and Italy I would not have a life among the fans. Everyone wants to touch you, own you and approach you. I try to be as kind as possible to all my fans, but in those countries I could not do it. There they ask too much from you.

But now that the guerrilla fighting is over, the Spaniards are again men without a country or families or homes or work, though everyone appreciates very much what they did.

Remember that our Spanish conquerors, for their own benefit, deliberately created an oppressed underclass whose collective psyche became rooted in passivity and underachievement.

The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism. We would all be happy Europeans together. But we are going to see the old monster of militant nationalism being awoken when people realise how little control their politicians have.