Luis Aragones has long been a man of unusual logic, capable of the most bizarre behaviour. From twice taking pliers to a television cable that ran "suspiciously close" to his dug-out to standing on the touchline and screaming "old, old, more than old" at Fernando Hierro, a man more than 30 years his junior, his actions have often been nonsensical.
As, indeed, they were on Wednesday night. Just when it was opportune, necessary even, for Spain's coach to comment he did not. For the first time since the harangue on Jose Antonio Reyes in which he referred to Thierry Henry as a "black shit" Aragones refused to say anything.
By refusing to express condemnation or even sadness at the chants, by the wry grin that stretched across his face, he did little to prove himself not a racist. Nor to heal a rift which he and many of his fellow countrymen believe is of English making.
Even more striking was the reaction of Fernando Garrido, the Spanish Football Federation's (RFEF) director of external relations. Sitting next to Aragones in a packed and bristling press room after the game, Garrido insisted the RFEF would not be making a statement, reiterating that the decision to pose behind a United Against Racism banner had been taken before the game.
Eventually, piqued by vociferous insistence, Garrido shot back: "There hasn't been any chanting at black players for years and tonight there is. Do you wonder about your own responsibility?"
Like Aragones, he had failed to make a simple statement and left the RFEF open to further accusations. As Begona Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the anti-racist group SOS, said: "The federacion is clearly less sensitive towards racism and xenophobia than other European associations."
Which is, of course, true. Just as it is true that, despite the protestations, monkey chants are still common in Spanish grounds. As Spain's best-selling newspaper Marca put it yesterday morning: "Every time Wright-Phillips got the ball you could clearly hear that sadly characteristic murmur you get in football stadiums when a coloured player gets the ball."
The Spanish media have attacked the English for deliberately looking to wind Aragones up. They, by contrast, have played the issue down: the volume was lowered to disguise the chants on Wednesday's TVE coverage and with exceptions such as El Pais, yesterday's papers gave it little attention.
The night before the game, El Largero, the massively successful late-night radio show on Cadena SER, invited the national coach on to explain how he had shrugged off the pesky English. The presenter then launched a staggeringly bitter attack on the English journalist who asked the question that prompted the now infamous colonies rant, who he said had "come here with that shaven-headed hooligan look of his to cause trouble".
By Wednesday many Spaniards had made up their minds: it was our Luis against the English. The Bernabeu had rarely been so loud; the Spanish team had never had such vociferous support in Madrid. But it wasn't just our Luis against the English: it was our Luis against their blacks. Irritated that the arch hooligans should preach about how to behave, some decided on an attitude of "you want racist, we'll show you racist".
The behaviour of the crowd was as nonsensical as that of Aragones: a "Stop Immigration" banner, monkey noises and chants of "whoever doesn't bounce is a fucking black" as almost the whole stadium bounded up and down were designed for English consumption. As, of course, were chants of "Gibraltar, Espanol". It was telling, and sad, that ooh-oohing was considered a legitimate weapon.
