Bad day to remember Helenio Herrera, called the Magician, legendary coach of the Barça of the Five Cups to whom a grotesque, very soccer-like phrase is attributed: “You play better with ten than with eleven.” If such nonsense made a fortune, it is because many teams have won games with one less player. It's a pity that then, when the coach is most needed, a lighthouse to look at, Xavi lost his nerve like a beginner and expelled himself. Incomprehensible.
Helenio Herrera never said that. He coached Atlético de Madrid and they had beaten Real Madrid – an injured player, no changes were allowed – so, the rascal, anticipated and before they could take away their merits he released the strange argument. And if it didn't end there it is because many teams have resisted with inferiority, based on epic, defensive order, pride and coaches who make their players believe. Hence the incomprehensibility of Xavi's tantrum, which aggravated the team's loneliness. So many years of debate about DNA have made us forget basic principles such as overcoming. The Bordalás school, wow.
The orphanhood of the night had its counterpoint in the festival Ousmane Dembélé, who was not in the least sad to point out the team that with the patience of a saint has paid him for six seasons and to which he never contributed anything, except great expectations. Professional football is like that, professional footballers are like that, being egomaniacal. Nobody asks for hypocrisy like apologizing for scoring, but last night they missed a loving gesture towards a public and a club that, given what they have seen, has not left them any feelings despite the patience they showed with injuries, mistakes, nutrition ...
The refereeing did not eliminate FC Barcelona. Neither does UEFA. They are football things. Without Araújo, the team lacked maturity. Normal: he has never had it. Throughout the season they have been an uncertain, unpredictable and disconcerting team (lately for the better). It is not a defense machine, a task despised by the aristocratic remnants of the glorious years. The collapse was bigger than understandable and the only thing missing was seeing the coach expelled to magnify this lowering of arms before the hour.
Xavi and Laporta's Barça reached this point, reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Blows like last night intensify the club's descent into a European middle class. Of course, with pretense: the fans blowing the UEFA anthem. Someday perhaps there will be no anthems because this defeat returns Barcelona fans to depression: without a squad, without a coach and without a euro. And there is nothing left to sell. Not even the smoke.
