"The two mightiest warriors are patience and time."
Tolstoy
That of the "comfort of fools" is underestimated. The fall from grace of other European football greats serves to mitigate, if only a little, the pain Barcelona fans feel in the face of tomorrow's trashy game against a certain Viktoria Pilsen. Juventus and Atletico have also dropped out of the Champions League, Milan may drop out, and Manchester United didn't even qualify.
Barca is not alone. If it were, the shame would be unbearable.
But there is another big club whose sorrows may serve as even greater consolation for the Catalans. Liverpool, a powerhouse for the last six years, offers a mirror in which Barça can be looked at with some cause for satisfaction, or at least hope.
Yes, it is true that Liverpool is still in the Champions League, but their performances in England are atrocious compared to Barça's in Spain. Barça, second in the table one point behind Real Madrid, can dream of winning the League; Liverpool will suffer to be among the first four of the Premier. Today he is in ninth position, 15 points behind the leader.
In spite of everything, Barça more or less goes up; Liverpool, clearly, down. They lost at home on Saturday against Leeds, who had not won a game in eight, and the previous weekend fell to newly promoted bottom side Nottingham Forest.
Nobody still seems to question, at least openly, neither the permanence in the Barcelona presidency of Joan Laporta nor that of Xavi Hernández on the bench. Instead, Liverpool fans are in rebellion against the owners of the club and in the English press they are beginning to question whether it is time to say goodbye and thanks to their coach, the German Jürgen Klopp.
I say that Liverpool offers a mirror for Barça in the sense that the two live polar different moments.
First, Barça is a young team, with an old man recently signed as a father. Liverpool is an old team, with a recently signed young man who plays (exaggerating a bit to give balance to the phrases) like a grandfather. I am referring to Robert Lewandowski, 34, who cost 45 million and the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez, 23, who cost 100 million. What we can say for sure is that Núñez is not even the shadow of the Uruguayan Luis Suárez, formerly of Liverpool and Barcelona.
Second, Barça is a team under construction; Liverpool, a team in deconstruction. There is no youngster at Liverpool remotely on a par with Pedri and Gavi. Liverpool plays against time. Pillars of the team such as Van Dijk, Henderson, Milner, Matip and Salah are over 30 years old and they are still there, with no replacements in sight. All of them played in that terrible 4-0 defeat to Barça in 2019. Of that Barça there are only three left and two have replacements: Ter Stegen plus Busquets and Sergi Roberto. With which, be patient.
Third, Klopp bragged that his Liverpool played heavy metal football. Today it is more of a flan. The ferocious intensity of the midfielders has fizzled out, putting more pressure on the increasingly wobbly defence. Pedri and Gavi will be the guarantee of intensity at Barça for a while and when Araújo, only 23 years old, recovers from his injury and joins Koundé, also 23, the center of the Barça defense will be the closest thing that the football on a rock
Fourth, Barça has spent much more than it has on new players; Liverpool, considerably less. The economy of the clubs does not matter much to the fans, that is why there is much more discontent with the owners of Liverpool, for being miserly, than with Laporta and company, for being wasteful.
Fifth, Liverpool have won a lot in recent years and it must be hard for Klopp to stay motivated, especially after the disappointment of dominating and losing last season's Champions League final against Madrid. Barça does not carry the weight, exactly, of an excess of recent triumphs.
Finally, another reason for Barça not to lose faith. If this season ends badly, and so does Liverpool, Xavi could give his place to Jürgen Klopp next year, without a doubt, despite his current difficulties, a crack, and the most charismatic coach in the world.
