Why don't Real Madrid and Barcelona have ultras?

Last September 29, the Madrid derby between Atletico and Real was suspended for several minutes during the second half. The referee stopped the match as objects were thrown from the section of the Civitas Metropolitano occupied by the Frente Atletico, the ultras group of the Colchoneros fans, towards Real Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The images spread worldwide, particularly the snapshot where Koke is seen arguing with a man whose face is covered by a balaclava. Atletico Madrid publicly condemned this episode and announced that they had expelled a person identified for throwing objects. However, the incident has reignited the debate about the relationship between Spanish clubs and ultras groups, with the Frente Atletico being a far-right group. The Spanish press has called for decisive action from the club, also highlighting the whistles that came from the rest of the stadium at the end of the derby when Atletico players returned to the section occupied by the Frente for the traditional end-of-match greetings. The goal is to remove the most violent ultras from the stadiums, following the example set by Real Madrid and Barcelona in the past.

The case of Real Madrid is the most recent, concerning Florentino Perez and his relationship with the Ultras Sur, the name of the ultras group that accompanied Real Madrid from 1980 until 2014. It is a far-right group with Nazi ideologies that over the years has been involved in numerous notorious events, the most notable occurring during the first leg of the 1998 Champions League semi-finals when some members of the group climbed the metal fences, causing a gate to collapse, which resulted in the match starting over an hour late. In recent years, the group had been publicly praised by Jose Mourinho, but in 2014, Florentino Perez made the decision to remove the Ultras Sur from the Santiago Bernabeu to clean up the club's image. The group still officially exists and continues to call for Perez's resignation, but aside from a few isolated incidents, it has not made headlines or been seen inside the Bernabeu since. In its place now stands the Grada, a section where fans are only allowed in dressed in white after signing a contract with the club, committing to always support Real Madrid without protesting or displaying any symbols of political ideology.

The expulsion of ultras by Barcelona dates back to 2003, during the first term of Joan Laporta as club president. The group in question is the Boixos Nois, also a far-right ultras group formed in the 1980s, which in 1991 was involved in the murder of Frederic Rouquier, an Espanyol fan. According to Laporta's view, the Boixos Nois had received enormous benefits from their relationship with Josep Lluís Núñez and Joan Gaspart, the two previous Barcelona presidents before him. Laporta's first act was to cancel all the privileges enjoyed by the Boixos Nois, such as complimentary tickets or the room inside the stadium used by the group as storage for banners, but above all, weapons. Like Perez, by expelling the Boixos Nois from Camp Nou, Laporta aimed to clean up the club's image, as they were responsible for throwing a pig's head at Luis Figo the day the Portuguese player returned to Barcelona for the first time after being sold to Real Madrid. The Boixos Nois' reaction to Laporta's decision was harsh: insults, threats, and even an ambush against Laporta himself, but he remained firm in his stance. Just like Perez, making Barcelona and Real Madrid the only two Spanish teams without ultras.