Row goes on after violent scenes in Barca-Real draw

The crowd violence that marred Saturday's goalless draw between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Nou Camp spilled over into a war of words between the two great rivals of Spanish football on the morning after the game.

The match had to be stopped midway through the second half as a radical group of fans, the "boixos nois", or "mad boys", in the Barca crowd rained down plastic bottles and other items on their former hero Luis Figo as he prepared to take a corner.

Real Madrid's sporting director Jorge Valdano described the incidents as unworthy of Spanish football and said that his side's goalkeeper Iker Casillas had also had items thrown at him.

Barcelona president Joan Gaspart claimed that Figo had provoked the fans by waiting too long to take his corners.

"We're not the villains here," Gaspart said. "I don't like it when people come to our house and provoke us."

That suggestion was in turn laughed off by Figo, who suggested that Gaspart might have been better to come down and take the corners himself.

The only certainty is that Barcelona will face an investigation into the events at the Nou Camp after the Spanish Football Federation have received the referee's report.

Two years ago, when Figo returned to Barcelona for the first time since his bitterly contested $56 million move to Real Madrid, the reaction from the crowd was equally vengeful.

On that occasion the player did not take the corners but he was still subjected to a volley of abuse, as well as items such as lighters and mobile phones, every time he approached the touchline.

Barcelona were fined 9,000 euros ($9,002) for the behaviour of the crowd in that game and Spanish media were not slow in suggesting that this time the sanction should be much greater, with some calling for the ground to be closed.

Figo missed Real's two games at the Nou Camp last season, in the Spanish first division and in the Champions League, and some sections of the crowd seemed anxious to make up for those two missed opportunities to make their feelings known.

One glass whisky bottle made its way on to the field as Figo took his side's first corner in the second half on Saturday, while newspapers carried pictures of a pig's head on the pitch, although it was not clear from where or when it had been thrown.

Figo spent a minute or so clearing up the debris before calmly taking a kick that resulted in Roberto Bonano tipping the ball over the bar for another corner on the other side of the pitch.

As the Portuguese forward trotted over to the Real Madrid right he again found himself the target of angry fans.

After calls for calm from Barcelona defender Carles Puyol, and later from officials over the loudspeaker system, referee Luis Medina Cantalejo decided to take the players off the field for around five minutes, with the total delay being more than 10 minutes.

Valdano stopped short of recommending the closure of the ground but he was sharply critical of what happened during the game.

"What happened was not worthy of Spanish football," Valdano said. "There were difficult moments out there and we just have to be grateful that the match could be finished."

"It's not for us to decide if the ground should be closed but Figo taking corners is not a provocation."

Figo's own view was that Gaspart's opinion should not be taken too seriously.

"I respect Gaspart for the position he holds but I'm not sure if he's having a joke with that comment," Figo said.

"There's no reason to take what he's saying seriously. He's not doing a great service to his club."