Espanyol denounce 'unacceptable' inappropriate touching during Catalan derby

Espanyol have denounced the "unacceptable" touching from Barça player Mapi León on their player Daniela Caracas during the Catalan derby played over the weekend.

Barça won the hard-fought derby 0-2, but the game has made far more headlines for the incident involving León and Caracas. 

Many on social media also speculate that León, after touching Caracas in an intimate manner, asks her, "tienes picha?", which translates, in vulgar colloquial language, to "do you have a penis?" 

"During a play during the match, FC Barcelona player María Pilar León, in the middle of a scuffle with our player, Daniela Caracas, made a gesture that violated our player's privacy," a statement from Espanyol published on Monday reads. "Although Caracas was unable to react at the time due to the impact the situation had on her, later, when she came to terms with what had happened, she became aware of the seriousness of the gesture, but chose not to react angrily to avoid a disciplinary sanction and harm to the team."

"In addition to what happened on the field of play, there was the regrettable reaction on social media, where our player was the target of insults from hundreds of profiles. We are concerned that, instead of focusing on the act itself, part of the media attention has been diverted to other issues unrelated to the seriousness of the action," the club explained, expressing condemnation of both events.

"At RCD Espanyol we defend our player and condemn any act that threatens the integrity of female footballers on the pitch. We firmly believe in respect and sportsmanship as fundamental values ​​of football and we hope that these types of situations are treated with the seriousness they deserve. In addition, we have made the Club's legal services available to our player in case she wishes to take legal action," the pericos explained.

León denies sexual aggression

In a statement published through the club's official channels, Mapi León denied all wrongdoing. "At no point did I violate, or intend to violate, the intimacy of my colleague Daniela Caracas," the statement reads.

León continues to describe what happened as shown in the video. The Barça defender says that Caracas intentionally bumped into her off the ball, and León says she touched the leg of Caracas and asked her, "Qué te pasa." 

 "At no point would it even occur to me to touch the private parts of any of my colleagues, it goes against my principles and I would never do it."

Mapi León also condemned insults that Caracas has received on social media.

The statement also ends with León outlining that she reserves the right to take legal action against those who want to "take advantage" of what happened on the field of play and "defame" her.