In episode 330 of the La Cassock podcast, broadcast one day before the match with PSG, a phrase was uttered that deserves to be engraved in marble. He exactly defined the relationship between the Barça fans and his team at that moment in the season. It was not about satisfaction, optimism and new expectations, but about something deeper, the release of anguish, putting football on its rightful plane and returning fans to a healthy state. In short, to put things in their place. “Barça has stopped being our problem and has become a distraction from our problems,” said Magí García Vidal, one of the four members of a gathering that solves an almost impossible equation every week: mixing in the right proportions the wildest irreverence with the most authentic seny.
For a month, Barça returned to normality. He played well and even very well at times – the Paris match was comparable to any of those remembered in the team's most glorious period –, he did the math with the results and was stable in his performance. After a long time, people began to think that Barça could walk alone, without the tear that has accompanied it for years. A natural relationship had been reestablished between the team and the fans. Play, win, excite, on the one hand. Enjoy, perhaps dream, for the other. And breathe, finally.
It is not easy to specify the general state of Barça after the defeat against PSG and the elimination in the quarterfinals of the European Cup. Perhaps today's game at the Bernabéu will clarify some questions. What has recently been called the classic usually has the virtue of clarifying doubts. He solved them on two occasions for Xavi, who settled in the position after 0-4 in his first season and found the tactical key in the Super Cup final presided over by the inclusion of Gavi as a false winger and true midfielder alongside Busquets , De Jong and Pedri.
But the matches with Madrid have also hurt Xavi's position, especially in the last three matches: last year in the Cup and this season in both the League and the Super League. Three poorly digested defeats that have weighed on the atmosphere and on Xavi's consideration as a coach. The two teams come from opposite results in the quarterfinals of the European Cup. Barça, punished by the early expulsion of Araújo, the four goals they conceded, the serious errors they committed and the umpteenth outburst from Xavi, who once again combusted when the team needed clear ideas and control of emotions.
Barça inflicted more wounds on themselves than PSG caused them. They gave up their two-goal lead too easily. He did not lack courage, nor the opportunities to commit the French team, which felt a kind of horror of emptiness when it felt so close to qualifying. It is evident that old ghosts live in PSG that still haunt him.
Everything that is not a victory for Barça will leave the League doomed. It already seems that way with Real Madrid's eight-point lead, but football is always sensitive to perceptions. Barça has to assume the last role it has left this season, that of last-minute agitator. If the defeat against PSG once again opened the gap to doubts, against Madrid he has the possibility of returning to the previous month and making it clear that this Barça is closer to distracting from the problems than becoming the problem.
