FC Barcelona and His Holiness the Dalai Lama have seen better days. Theirs is unusual: Xavi Hernández urges the fans to be happy, very happy, because they don’t win a League every year – tell those of us who grew up in the years of Barca lead! – and Tenzin Gyatso – more known as the Dalai – he asks a child to suck his tongue, as if nothing had happened (Francisco does it and burns Troya, El Palmar de Troya and Casa d’A Troya, Galician cuisine in the heart of Madrid).
We all have a bad day, the bad thing is that FC Barcelona chains two –a thump in the Cup and the first team unable to score a goal at home against Girona FC–, within the framework of a general depression, very understandable in the absence of faith in a better tomorrow.
Listening to the coach, Xavi Hernández, asking for joy because the League has won reminds us of those political leaders who show off on election nights before some militants who expected power. If there is a spontaneous feeling that you have or do not have, it is precisely joy.
No one better than a Barcelona fan to know what a League means, especially the average member, of a respectable age, in whose memory there are five-year droughts and last-minute misfortunes that prevented the regularity championship from being raised. So, how do you explain this collective reluctance for the imminent achievement of a title? I am one of those who think that the League is decided, it will be that on Saturday I was in the north end of the Bernabéu…
There are three reasons, put to comment.
First. The fan has not internalized how bad FC Barcelona is, including the sporting field. What there is is what there is and it is not a powerful template. The great merit – worthy of celebration – is that with the most mediocre attack of all the Leagues played by the club, the team can sing the alirón. It is difficult for the culé to celebrate the defensive strength –and even less accept it as a philosophy–, a great virtue but with very bad press after the Messi era.
Two. Real Madrid is still alive in the Champions League and nobody takes their elimination for granted despite a hellish draw. If they fall, Xavi will be able to save himself from calls for joy: he will appear spontaneously. The mood will change and he will be the first to receive a pat on the back.
Third. As an institution, Barça is a wasteland. Without leadership, mortgaged and pending a probable European exclusion. Ask for joy? The fans did enough on Monday by not mounting a monumental fight, perhaps another symptom of discouragement. And what would change a scarf?
