'Claims and generalisations attach themselves to a fixture as grand as Barcelona versus Chelsea in Camp Nou tonight.
For those who see more than La Liga's and the Premiership's champions-elect, this is football's real thing versus football's plaything. It is historic Barca, club of 120,000 members, so pure they will not sully their shirt with a sponsor's name, against nouveau Chelsea, club of one man, Roman Abramovich - so money.
The trouble with generalisations is that they simplify. So just as there is romance involved in the view of Barcelona as a dreamy meritocracy, there is more to Chelsea than Abramovich.
Football and politics mix in Spain and an all-embracing view of Barcelona is that they are a left- wing club in a country in which the right wing and General Franco's regime, in particular, were represented by Real Madrid.
There is truth in this. In 1936 Barcelona's president, Josep Sunyol, was murdered by Franco's troops. Franco supported Real.
Sunyol was a left-winger and some of Barca's essence stems from him, including the supposed anti-commercialism involving the shirt. The fact that Barcelona were "more than a club" to Catalonia - they are its national team - is another factor.
Joan Laporta, today's president, says of putting a name across the shirt: "The sponsor would have to pay enough money for us to be satisfied. We are aware that it is extra symbolic because our shirt has never been sponsored. That would add value."
What Laporta was saying is that he sees economic "value" in Barca's purity. Be sure it will be exploited, possibly as early as next season.
Laporta, however, is different in some ways to his Chelsea equivalent, Peter Kenyon. As with all Barca presidents, Laporta was elected by the socios - club members - and modelled his "Blue Elephant" election campaign partly on Manchester United fans' opposition to Rupert Murdoch's attempted takeover at Old Trafford. Laporta met some of the United fans involved.'