LAthletic went down to the Mestalla in the earthly condition they had abandoned this season. He played poorly, deadlocked in games and wins, perhaps weakened by the praise received in recent weeks, the best the team has received in years, probably decades. The youngsters looked too young, and the veterans too tired. Valencia, who have found the answer to their long decline in the squad, defeated him with the style of play that has characterized Athletic: vigor, dynamism and a header at the far post.
Football rarely tolerates constant splendor, except for a few teams that, by routine, remain at the peak, protected by immense financial, media and footballing resources. Even these keys do not guarantee satisfaction. Barça knows this better than any other club. He stubbornly went against his own nature, which had given him the best years of his history, and for some time he has been living between fiction and reality, between the nostalgia of what has been and the raw evidence of his difficulties This human Barça, subjected to the hardships that afflict 99% of the clubs that would in no way enter the Superliga projected by Florentino Pérez, will go to San Mamés to repeat their long history of confrontations with Athletic. In working terms, including the holiday month, the two teams have met 334 times in official competitions, which amounts to an exact year of matches. The number is dizzying. We are therefore facing a match of long pants, built by the two teams that have won the most Cup titles, although the statistics are not at all kind to Athletic in their favorite competition. He has not won the trophy since the 1984 final, the one with Endika Guarrotxena’s goal and the most unpleasant tangana that has been seen in Spanish football. At Barça, winning the Cup has been so frequent that the title has lost almost all of its value. The club and its people were for another job, the big game operations that are practiced in Europe. That Barça marked an unforgettable era. He became the reference of everything that is now denied to him: the best figures, the successes in the Champions League, the model, the fabulous global prestige. It is a memory that is beginning to be distant, but which gravitates with enormous pressure on Barcelona fans. No one wants to let go of their happy times, until the nostalgia becomes crippling and destructive. If there is one club that knows nostalgia, it is Athletic, but by now it has long since accepted the limitations it has imposed on itself. This, which could seem like an insurmountable deficit in the era of the Far West that runs in football, has become a source of pride and cohesion. 46,000 people went to San Mamés to witness the Copa match against Alabès, a figure that indicates the degree of follow-up by their fans. On Wednesday, the stadium, magnificent and perfectly suited to the needs of the club, will overflow with people.
It had been years, decades, since Athletic and Barça had not seen each other this close. With great difficulty, Barça is trying to put its pieces back together. For now, it doesn’t seem like he will succeed, as is usually the case in abysmal crises. He lost Messi and Busquets, he lost Koeman and no one is sure he won’t lose Xavi along the way. In hellish periods like this, football acts like Jupiter: it devours its myths without compassion. In San Mamés, an unstable and suffering Barça arrives. Athletic, who deflated in Mestalla, are waiting for him, but without trauma and supported by their tireless fans. It will be a game of great consequence.
