You might be tempted to remember some passages (again, yes) from the assembly of compromising partners in which Joan Laporta It came on the shoulders of the very few Internet members who were connected. But, yes, he came out on shoulders, you know thanks to the ‘sociological madridismo’, to “they are panicking because we are coming back” and that other phrase, worthy of the creative that he has sitting on his nightstand, of “Barça only has us”.
Pam!, a few days later, a real Madrid mediocre, but with enough money to pay 103 million euros to sign the ‘new Messi’which is none other than that marvelous Jude Bellinghamwho is not only, like Leo was, the franchise player, but also the differential footballer, the one who decides the important games.
Front of revolution ‘low cost’ of Barçareinforced with ‘market opportunities’, as he loved to say Mateu Alemanysignings of footballers that nobody wanted (Joao Felix and Joan Cancelo) and the children of La Masia, Real Madrid takes out the checkbook and signs the best in Europe. I repeat: from the triumphalist assembly to the crash of the Classic. Poor Mick Jagger!
Gündogan’s word
The problem or problems (“this is part of the problem”), he said Ilkay Gundoganas if pointing out that there are more problems) that the former captain of the brand new European champion has detected, that is, Manchester City itself, have nothing to do with the euphoria that resides in the mind of Xavi Hernandez, his brother and technical staff. And, I’m sorry, but Barça’s problem now is believing Gündogan or believing Xavi. No, the two versions are not compatible.
Let’s start with Gündogan. Previous premise: Gündogan, 33 years old, is not one of the captains of Barça, but he was the captain of the best MCity in history and of the brand new European champion, the leader of those who achieved the treble, last season, in English football, the most competitive and spectacular of all. That is to say, that boy, that man, has seen and heard everything in this life. Especially, footballers with fangs in the moments where the titles are at stake.
One thinks that the MCity locker room, Pep Guardiola, Bernard Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and company is transformed when they lose (rarely, yes, like Barça) against one of the greats, in a Clásico, against MUnited, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea, right? Because, after hearing and reading the criticism that Gündogan makes of his colleagues (he is the first to point out: “I have not come here to lose these games”), the question that assails me is: What did Gündogan see when he left the shower after losing the Classic in that unfortunate way?
What did you see and hear? To Xavi congratulating the boys “because we have played the best 60 minutes of the season”? One or more of his colleagues, with headphones on, listening to the Rolling Stones and tying their shoes? one or more talking about meeting up for dinner with their colleagues in that cool Japanese that everyone goes to? Others washing to show their friends the latest watch they bought? Seriously, what did Gündogan see to make him desperate and decide that, since Xavi will never give them a fight like that, never!, someone had to do it? That he saw or heard!
The pink version
The danger, I insist, is that Gündogan’s worrying and, I’m sorry, true version would be preceded by the triumphant explanation to worrying extremes that Xavi composed after reviewing the match with his staff and communicating to his players that “we played the best 60 minutes of the season (…) we have swept Real Madrid (…) you can be proud of your work (…) believe me when I tell you that, by playing like this, we will win the League”.
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That is what one of the three journalists who speaks or communicates (almost) daily with Xavi says that the ‘mister’ culé told his team after reinforcing his thesis that by playing like this it is impossible for them to miss out on the League. And, look, Gündogan thinks that, by playing like this, Real Madrid and Girona have already begun to make room for themselves. “And I have not come here so that, after two months of competition, a gap like this opens and the team does not rebel.”
I’m sorry, but I completely believe Gündogan, who has detected in a short time one of the problems (and not the only one) of Barça. And I don’t believe Xavi, because Barça was not the Brazil of 70 in the first half and, if it had been, they would have defeated a mediocre and passive Real Madrid, even simply playing 60 exceptional minutes, which they did not play. And, of course, his boys did not deserve to get away with such a damaging defeat. Among other things, because even a child like Gavi He realized that they were “breaded.”