Barça touched the sky in Rome, London and Berlin. There they were. With each title, they entered more and more into the Olympus of the Blaugrana gods. They earned the right to be remembered forever. They reached that sacred place where you have to venerate those who made you happy, and not just once, many times. But football lacks memory and the present runs over memories, even the most beautiful ones.
They could live forever as heroes. They could have chosen their epitaph, a happy one, a funny one, a tribute in style, with a retreat, anticipating. But they decided to risk their honor beyond thirty-something. They wanted to stay home. And that has a danger. The light of the stars is fading. They suffered the debacles of Rome, Anfield, Bayern 2-8, PSG 1-4, Benfica 3-0... They never saw the way out, they didn't think about stepping aside. They endured until the sunset can no longer be concealed.
Busquets has 11 games left to reach 700 with Barcelona. And Piqué is the defender who has worn the Barcelona shirt the most times. Both are part of the select club of five legends that has exceeded 600 games. They are the two captains, the two oldest players without counting Lewandowski, who already has 14 goals, but both were portrayed at 3-3.
The 35-year-old defender started as the fifth central defender in the squad but injuries gave him a place in the decisive match against Inter. An unforgivable excess of confidence cost Barcelona 1-1. The ball went high and Piqué opened his arms, as if he were letting it pass. He moved away, without thinking that someone could come from behind. He didn't even imagine it. Big mistake. There was Barella, waiting for the ruling to take advantage of the gift. “The first goal is a very clear mistake by the defensive line”, summed up Xavi Hernández.
The 34-year-old midfielder is the thread that sews the team but precisely for that reason he cannot be wrong. He missed an easy pass and gave it to Calhanoglu, who changed orientation for Lautaro, who scored. “It is an error that cannot happen in the elite”, analyzed the technician. Perhaps for this reason, he replaced Busquets immediately.
Finally, in the third Piqué did not follow Lautaro's unchecking after a long serve by Onana. He gave her space. It seemed like a play without more but the Argentine assisted Gosens. The errors, massive, came from the 50th minute, an argument used by those who brandish that high-level games have been long for them for a long time. "It's a disappointment," said Busquets. “It was a difficult group but we had to aspire to more because of the effort and the signings that have been made”, he pointed out. The twilight of the gods may have a sad end in the Europa League.
