Accustomed to drama and noise, Barça mutely covers the last stretch of the championship. More than a month has passed since Kessié's agonizing goal against Real Madrid, which everyone interpreted as a sure ticket to the title. Point up, point down, since then the distance has been maintained and Atlético's rush seems to come too late. A League resolved with such anticipation was not remembered, to the point of remaining hidden from the news focus. From March to here, attention has been devoted to the Enríquez Negreira case, the possible return of Messi, the credit to rebuild the Camp Nou and the knife crossing with Real Madrid on account of the regime's favors, any regime, in any century.
Notice the lack of excitement around the team. The smash with Madrid in the second leg in the Cup has deepened the sedation. In the last two games, Barça has played with low tension: goalless draws against Girona and Getafe.
Since football moves through impressions, no one has been disturbed by a cycle that at another time would have caused alarm and debate.
Champion in pectore for so long, Barça runs two risks: getting rid of competitive strength prematurely and tarnishing its admirable work in the League in the final stretch of the championship. It is not the same to win it with an inflated chest than to solve it with a slump. The fans want strong emotions, celebrate success with sky-high spirits, feel that the title is the beginning of a new stage or the end of a long period of disappointments.
Barcelona wants to believe, longs for a breath of optimism. Of worries and decibels is plenty. The title, yes, but with flight in football, without giving in to the process of counting the days to go and the points to be achieved, which is the feeling that the team has conveyed in recent games. It's hard to enjoy the celebrations when the weeks go by and the game gets boring.
Atlético's visit presupposes a phenomenal remedy for Barça's spring asthenia. For the first time in recent weeks, the match meets all the conditions to install the right atmosphere of uncertainty and tension at the Camp Nou. If the European season went badly for Barça, Atlético had it much worse. Eliminated in the first round of the Champions League, they did not access the Europa League. In the Cup he was a victim of Real Madrid, like Barça. As strange as it may seem now, Simeone was questioned, a sacred figure in a club that owes his coach most of his spectacular growth on the European football ladder.
Two teams that have starred in unforgettable battles are facing each other today at the Camp Nou. This season they have seemed like two peas in a pod, except in the League. Barça is the leader and presumed champion, but it does not transmit excitement. Instead, Atlético presents itself as a happy third party. They have won the last six games, amid the growing enthusiasm of the fans, who forget sorrows and resentments at the pace of victories, so that now, with nine games to go in the championship, the third is a happy team. And dangerous for Barça.
Atlético will measure the true state of Barça, which cannot afford a defeat in this valley period. The League is far away for its two pursuers. Although the distances in football are usually proportional to the state of mind of the teams, which at Barça has been sad lately. There is little League left, but enough not to deepen into lethargy and complicate the championship.
