The Spanish media on Saturday expressed delight at the unity shown between the players of traditional diehard rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid shown in Friday's 3-2 friendly defeat of Chile.
Before the match, played in the small Swiss town of St Gallen, there had been serious concern that the harmony within the national team - shown to such good effect during the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 - had been shattered by the recent acrimony between Barca and Real.
In the space of three weeks in spring, the twin giants literally clashed four times - with red cards, punch-ups and mutual accusations flying angrily back and forth.
In August the Big Two of Spanish football clashed twice more, in the Super Cup. And - to the horror of national manager Vicente del Bosque - the boots, fists and red cards flew again.
The Barca players accused Real of being, on the instructions of coach Jose Mourinho, violent and bad losers, the Real players accused Barca of being provocative and theatrical.
The wounds between the two factions started to heal when Iker Casillas, captain of both Real and Spain, two weeks ago called Barca and Spain veterans Xavi and Carles Puyol to try to end the feud.
Del Bosque was delighted with Casillas' actions. Mourinho, in contrast, apparently was not, and - according to the media - left Casillas on the bench throughout the Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu match against Galatasaray as punishment.
Del Bosque wanted to use the Chile match to restore harmony between the two groups of players, and the papers pointed out on Saturday that "Operation Harmony" - as it was called by Valencia daily Super Deporte - was a complete success.
In the days leading up to the game, the papers carried photographs of the Barca and Real stars training and laughing together - and quotes from them claiming that the feud was over.
Xavi was quoted on Thursday as saying: "We have to move on now. There are no problems within the (Spain) squad, there is no problem between Iker (Casillas) and I."
Chile took a shock 2-0 lead in St Gallen but Spain came back to win 3-2, thanks to two late goals from supersub Cesc Fabregas, a man on fire since finally returning to Barca from Arsenal in August.
The Chileans lost their discipline, and had Pablo Contreras and Jorge Valdivia sent off in an ugly finale.
There was an unsightly free-for-all at the end but the Spanish media were delighted to see Barca players Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets standing up for Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa, whom the Chileans accused of diving to get the late penalty which led to Spain's winning goal.
Practically every Spanish newspaper on Saturday carried the photograph of Arbeloa being helped out in the scuffle by Iniesta and Busquets, and by Real right-back Sergio Ramos.
Iniesta was quoted as saying: "The melee showed that we are a team, with real unity."
The headline in sports daily Marca was "A Group!", whilst its website on Saturday carried the headline "Spain Come Together To Defend Themselves."
Rival daily AS, for its part, carried the headline "Arbeloa And Iniesta Fight Together." AS editor Alfredo Relano titled his daily column "A Family Which Fights Together Stays Together."
Madrid radio station Cadena COPE, meanwhile, claimed on Saturday that "unity has clearly been restored within the national squad and the old wounds are starting to heal...This unity will be needed in the future."
Before the match, played in the small Swiss town of St Gallen, there had been serious concern that the harmony within the national team - shown to such good effect during the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 - had been shattered by the recent acrimony between Barca and Real.
In the space of three weeks in spring, the twin giants literally clashed four times - with red cards, punch-ups and mutual accusations flying angrily back and forth.
In August the Big Two of Spanish football clashed twice more, in the Super Cup. And - to the horror of national manager Vicente del Bosque - the boots, fists and red cards flew again.
The Barca players accused Real of being, on the instructions of coach Jose Mourinho, violent and bad losers, the Real players accused Barca of being provocative and theatrical.
The wounds between the two factions started to heal when Iker Casillas, captain of both Real and Spain, two weeks ago called Barca and Spain veterans Xavi and Carles Puyol to try to end the feud.
Del Bosque was delighted with Casillas' actions. Mourinho, in contrast, apparently was not, and - according to the media - left Casillas on the bench throughout the Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu match against Galatasaray as punishment.
Del Bosque wanted to use the Chile match to restore harmony between the two groups of players, and the papers pointed out on Saturday that "Operation Harmony" - as it was called by Valencia daily Super Deporte - was a complete success.
In the days leading up to the game, the papers carried photographs of the Barca and Real stars training and laughing together - and quotes from them claiming that the feud was over.
Xavi was quoted on Thursday as saying: "We have to move on now. There are no problems within the (Spain) squad, there is no problem between Iker (Casillas) and I."
Chile took a shock 2-0 lead in St Gallen but Spain came back to win 3-2, thanks to two late goals from supersub Cesc Fabregas, a man on fire since finally returning to Barca from Arsenal in August.
The Chileans lost their discipline, and had Pablo Contreras and Jorge Valdivia sent off in an ugly finale.
There was an unsightly free-for-all at the end but the Spanish media were delighted to see Barca players Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets standing up for Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa, whom the Chileans accused of diving to get the late penalty which led to Spain's winning goal.
Practically every Spanish newspaper on Saturday carried the photograph of Arbeloa being helped out in the scuffle by Iniesta and Busquets, and by Real right-back Sergio Ramos.
Iniesta was quoted as saying: "The melee showed that we are a team, with real unity."
The headline in sports daily Marca was "A Group!", whilst its website on Saturday carried the headline "Spain Come Together To Defend Themselves."
Rival daily AS, for its part, carried the headline "Arbeloa And Iniesta Fight Together." AS editor Alfredo Relano titled his daily column "A Family Which Fights Together Stays Together."
Madrid radio station Cadena COPE, meanwhile, claimed on Saturday that "unity has clearly been restored within the national squad and the old wounds are starting to heal...This unity will be needed in the future."
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