Spring brings the illusion of summer, late sunset or allergies (for example, to the Eurovision Song Contest). But rituals also return with it, such as the celebration of the titles that reward a good season. The journalist, editor and writer Basilio Baltasar publishes the essay El intellectual rampante (KRK Ediciones), with a chapter, “Theory of soccer”, which develops the reasons for his detachment from soccer.
With elegant distance, Baltasar dissects the football phenomenon, which his organization emphasizes: “To the extent that religious festivities have been losing their influence, the sporting spectacle keeps alive the cyclical illusion of the agricultural calendar and mitigates the anxiety of the abandoned man . The tournaments that summon the crowds give time a healing ritual plasticity: they segment the calendar into sequences in such an understandable way that the leagues begin and end, although then, immediately afterwards, the loop of a return begins again that continues without end. cease".
Yesterday afternoon, for the fourth consecutive spring, the FC Barcelona players were proclaimed League champions. It was in a predictable match (3-0 against Sporting de Huelva) that, however, had the great incentive of seeing the magic of Alexia Putellas reappear and serving as an injection of encouragement for the Champions League final.
The sensation of an incessant loop, of an infinite spiral that Baltasar refers to, was until recently alien to women's soccer. His condition as a revolutionary phenomenon meant that the mere fact of existing prevailed over the result. Everything was new and exciting. The generation of Alexia, Ada Hegerberg or Alex Morgan will go down in history for breaking down the last barriers of exceptionality.
But, as the popularity of women's football consolidates, the players will be remembered, above all, for their sporting merits. It is the routine fate that awaits young champions like Barcelona's Vicky López or Salma Paralluelo, already devoid of pioneering status. Former soccer player Abby Wambach warned in a Gatorade ad: "The day I'm forgotten is the day we'll have succeeded."
Of course, Siri still does not find out. Asked when she will play for Barça again, she answers as if Alexia and hers had never existed.
