Dreaming is beautiful, but it hurts. There will always be a moment when you wake up and what you enjoyed, what you enjoyed, is swallowed by that pillow that is more grateful for ephemeral ecstasy than lasting peace.
Barça is living a dream with João Félix. João Félix is living a dream with Barça. And both, linked in that dream world where nothing seems forbidden and unreality plays with fantasy, slide between triumphs, goals, assists and gestures as beautiful as they are absurd. Footballer and club are prohibited from paying attention to an ending, because the present is intoxicating. Stimulates. There will be time to think about what to do when, at the end of the season, the parties understand that the bond has all the emotional traces of falling in love, but with a piece of paper that warns that in summer, where everything begins, where everything ends, the period ends. of assignment.
Meanwhile, the fans have every right to let themselves go. It would be missing more. Because That Barcelona that had been struggling and wandering in the Champions League, expelled at the same dawn in the last two seasons, began its new journey with a sweet victory in front of an Antwerp that did little more than appear in Montjuïc. Seeing the old villain Mark van Bommel on the band, in black gravedigger, was disturbing. How could it be that that terrible Dutch footballer who managed to go further than anyone else in football – how many enemies can Iniesta have in this life? – led such a candid team?
Cancelo’s Irreverence
Barça could have taken the game with their hands in their pockets, whistling, and allowing João Félix to exploit his imagination and that João Cancelo exploited his irreverence. All you had to do was see how the winger looked for balls or brought down balls from the sky as if he were on a circus ring, not on a soccer field.
There must have been reasons. Because Barça had shot on goal twice and scored three goals. And in just 22 minutes. Before Bataille scored an own goal after a Raphinha cross due to the lack of skill of his goalkeeper, Butez, João Félix had already made the night his own. The Portuguese woke up quickly, paying attention to Lewandowski’s connection with Gündogan and waiting for his opportunity to finish the job with that foot-shaped wand. The veteran Alderweireld, who at 34 years old is not capable of putting up with anyone’s nonsense, was broken by a delicate cut by João Félix, which was nothing more than the anticipation of a caress to the ball with the net as the only possible destination. The goalkeeper stayed in Babia due to the deception.
The former Atlético footballer continued his work, who knew how to give value to a Frenkie de Jong’s formidable vertical pass. He couldn’t do an ugly João Félix to his teammate, so he continued the fable with an assist to the far post that Lewandowski took advantage of as he usually did. With that job that, despite the ailments of time, he still maintains.
Placidity
Barcelona was then able to allow itself some time to relax. Belgian, no matter how much the young Ekkelenkamp tried to speak out among classmates who were running around like headless chickensThey didn’t even press. And it was enough for the Blaugrana to manage their efforts, waiting for the goals to continue falling. If only to live all night in front of the Antwerp area.
And Gavi, who is one of those footballers who does not understand any management, rebelled against the momentary indifference to force his team to continue feeding the scoreboard. Cancelo, once again totemic in the area of the field where he wants, he decided to take to the mountain. Gündogan also tried to go further. But it was Gavi who took a left-footed shot from his soul that once again shook Montjuïc.
Van Bommel’s frustration
Van Bommel, with his hands buried in his pockets, I didn’t know how to stop that. And even less seeing how João Félix, with that face of a demonized child, denied the exorcism to turn his head. Raphinha, dedicated and formal in an increasingly expensive ownership, put a tense cross to the far post that the Portuguese took advantage of by marking with his head.
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The night, marred by the unpresentable throwing of glasses by the Belgian fans, was only missing Lamine Yamal’s goal.
João Félix kept them. He lives dreaming. Is there anything more beautiful than that?