Athletic descended at Mestalla to the earthly condition it had abandoned this season. He played poorly, filled with games and victories, perhaps weakened by the praise received in recent weeks, the team's best in years, probably decades. The young men seemed too young, and the veterans too tired. Valencia, who have found the answer to their long decline in the youth system, defeated them with the kind of play that has characterized Athletic: vigor, dynamism and a header at the far post.
Football rarely tolerates constant splendor, except for a few teams that routinely ride the wave, protected by their immense financial, media and football resources. Not even these keys guarantee satisfaction. Barça knows this better than any other club. He insisted on going against his own nature, which had given him the best years in his history, and for some time now he has lived between fiction and reality, between nostalgia for what has been and the raw evidence of his difficulties. This human Barça, subjected to the hardships that afflict 99% of the clubs that in no way would enter the Super League that Florentino Pérez projects, will go to San Mamés to reissue its long history of confrontations with Athletic. In work terms, with the month of vacation included, the two teams have faced each other 334 times in official competitions, which represents exactly one year of matches. This figure produces vertigo. We are, therefore, facing a long pants match, built by the two teams that have won the most Cup titles, although the statistics are not at all kind to Athletic in their favorite competition. He has not lifted the trophy since the 1984 final, the one with Endika Guarrotxena's goal and the most unpleasant tangana that has been seen in Spanish football.
At Barça, winning the Cup has been so frequent that the title has lost almost all its value. The club and its people were involved in something else, in the big game hunting operations that are practiced in Europe. That Barça marked an unforgettable era. He became the benchmark for everything that is now denied him: the best figures, the successes in the Champions League, the model, the fabulous global prestige. It is a memory that is beginning to seem distant, but one that weighs heavily on Barcelona fans. No one wants to let go of their periods of happiness, until nostalgia becomes paralyzing and destructive. If a club knows about nostalgia, it is Athletic, but at this point it has long ago accepted itself with the limitations it has imposed on itself. This, which might seem like an insurmountable deficit in these Far West times in football, has become a source of pride and cohesion. 46,000 people came to San Mamés to watch the Cup match against Alavés, a figure that indicates the degree of fan following. On Wednesday, the stadium, magnificent and perfectly adjusted to the club's needs, will be packed with people.
It had been years, decades, since Athletic and Barça had seen each other from so close. With great difficulties, Barça tries to put its pieces back together. For now it does not convey the impression of achieving it, as usually happens in abysmal crises. He lost Messi and Busquets, he lost Koeman and no one is sure that he won't lose Xavi along the way. In hellish periods like this, football acts like Jupiter: it devours its myths without mercy. An unstable and suffering Barça arrives at San Mamés. Athletic awaits them, who collapsed at Mestalla, but without trauma and protected by their tireless fans. It will be a game of great consequences.
