For already seasons, the FC Barcelona is an entity that doubts everything. Even of himself. There is doubt on and off the field, to the point that –recreating the spot for Atlético de Madrid– soon there will be children who will ask at home “why are we from Barça?”. And parents who will answer: "That's what I say!".
The Messi era was longer than memory – so short – suggests: a triumphant debut in 2004 and a depressing exit – due to form – in 2021. Around the Argentine, the club attracted talent, great coaches – Guardiola, Luis Enrique and Valverde, not only in chronological order–, dream squads and, most notably, social peace. Hence, the dogma – not exempt from arrogance – even permeated that football could only be won in the overwhelming and showy way of Barça. The days of possession of the ball...
The new cycle lacks convictions. Like the "new football", where feelings are priced down. Feelings are volatile territory, illusion included. Hence the cultural shock that Barcelona fans suffer and is transferred to the pitch. In days, a team, a coach and a squad that seemed solvent walk through the wire: today a final is played. In October...
With Messi and Catalunya, FC Barcelona had all the convictions and none of the doubts that defeats generate. Suddenly, without the Argentine and with galloping globalization – it will be played on Spotify, tomorrow, perhaps, at the Dubai New Stadium –, with disoriented Catalanism and an empty box, Barça, the former Barça of the soci, who neither They don't paint or cut, they endorse and remain silent, they struggle to stay afloat in Europe. Either you are someone in Europe or you are dead...
The FC Barcelona-Inter is, yes, a final. Decisive not to be left out of the Champions League in the fall, like Basel, Lille or Leverkusen. Determinant to prevent doubts from giving way to despair and on Thursday the 13th this club is a sea of suspicion, from the president to the last employee. In moments like this, and in others too, how much the beacon of Johan Cruyff is missing, the intelligence that changed the course of Barça!
Staying in the Champions League is vital for sporting and economic reasons. The club has mortgaged the crockery and decapitalized the pension plan. The football that is to come is relentless with the oversights and the new generations will not suck the "political" dimension of Barça. It would only be missing, that is to say, that Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) or similar funds, opted to buy RCD Espanyol, inject millions and repeat the miracle of Manchester. Between United and City there was the same distance as between Barça and Espanyol...
