It was almost symbolic given the timing and the backdrop.
Over the weekend, Real Madrid suffered a blow to their hopes of retaining their La Liga title after losing 2-1 to Catalan top flight club Girona, the hometown of Carles Puigdemont, the former president of the Catalan parliament who has been the face of efforts to lead the region towards independence from Spain. And given that Real are often associated with the Spanish establishment, past and present, the result had even more resonance than usual.
Tottenham Hotspur would have watched the result and performance with interest as Real Madrid visit Wembley for their UEFA Champions League group clash tonight.
"The Girona game is one that will help Spurs a little and dent [Real's] a little bit," said Graham Hunter, our European football correspondent as he joined Adrian and Eoin on OTB AM this morning.
"Girona out-played Madrid. It wasn't the fact that Real tossed it away or were inept or kicked the ball in their own net.
"Girona pressed them, out-ran them, took the risks. That's a really big thing for Pochettino's [Spurs] side. They went beyond their men. They built 2-3 quick pass movements in a row rather than just playing speculatively, holding on, trying for a quick sucker punch and then playing it on.
"Can Spurs manage that? Spurs have better players than Girona. That's obvious. Can they manage that tempo? Will they be able to take the template and say, 'We'll apply that to the big pictch at Wembley?' It's tight at Girona.
"I find it fascinating what happened at the weekend but I would worry that it's a wake-up call."
You can watch today's episode of OTB AM via our Facebook Live player below, including, a review of the sports pages as well as an interview with Leinster and Ireland's Jonathan Sexton:
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