Without Messi, Piqué, Busquets or Jordi Alba, in the last two years Barcelona has lost four of its leaders. Four captains. But the rivalry with Real Madrid is guaranteed with Gavi. You only need to see what happened at the WiZink Center in Madrid during the celebration of the Nations League won by the Spanish team.
The blaugrana Gavi was the victim of an unpleasant episode of barcelonitis when he was rebuked by a noisy part of the public. To the point that he even had to interrupt his speech to the shouts of “Puta Barça”. Being one of the icons of the new Barcelona project weighed more for those fans than being part of the fifth great success of the red.
The Andalusian interior took the microphone almost out of obligation when Fabián Ruiz, from Los Palacios like him and Navas, took him to the center of the stage and began the chant for them to chant his name. He started to speak, but had to stop twice, first because of the merriment and then because of the shouting and insults. Visibly uncomfortable, Gavi sped up his words. They barely lasted 40 seconds. “Good afternoon everyone. I’m going to be short, I wanted to thank all the Spaniards and all the fans who have supported us in these two games. Without them it would not have been possible. We will be eternally grateful to them. Long live Spain ”, he finished. Jordi Alba’s face, arms folded, said it all.
Seeing the turn of events, Barcelona wanted to express its support for the player, only 18 years old, who has been seen in the center of the hurricane in an absurd way. So yesterday he published on his social networks a photo of Gavi kissing the club’s shield on the shirt, which is how he usually celebrates his goals. Gavi appreciated the gesture. “Always Barça”, the young soccer player wrote on Instagram, accompanying the text with two hearts, one blue and one red.
Champion of the League and the Super Cup and winner of the Kopa Trophy and the Golden Boy, as well as being the youngest rookie with Spain – when he was only 17 years and 62 days old – his appearance should be seen as magnificent news. However, Gavi has been immersed in an extemporaneous controversy, a debate that was believed to be over: that of the Barça-Madrid war in the national team.
And it is not the first time that has happened to him in his short career. “I suppose the problem is that he is a Barça player. If he were from another team, the defect would be a virtue ”, Xavi defended him when they accused him of being too intense.
The truth is that this course has become the scourge of whites. After being a substitute in the Bernabéu defeat (3-1), his role was key in the Super Cup final in Arabia, where he opened the scoring and assisted on the other two Blaugrana goals (3-0). Near the end there was a hair pull from Ceballos. He didn’t stop there. Gavi kept it to himself and in the blaugrana victory in the League at the Camp Nou (2-1) he gave Ceballos a push from behind. In the Cup (0-4 for Madrid) he faced Vinícius several times.
In a very short time, Gavi has become an indispensable piece for Barça. Despite his youth, he has played 47 and 49 games in his first two seasons in the elite. The club has even resorted to legal proceedings to register him in LaLiga with a first-team number. This Tuesday morning, the youth squad player reappeared on the LaLiga website with the number 6 (and not the 30 with which he debuted) as a precaution. But it is that he has also come to the national team to stay. Since Luis Enrique made his debut on October 6, 2021, Spain has played 21 games and the midfielder has been in all of them, 17 as a starter and four coming off the bench.
The Nations League was Spain’s first title in 11 years and many of those who attended the party were too young to remember the golden age of the team, which between 2008 and 2012 chained two Euro Cups and a World Cup with a large group of Barcelona fans and the influence of style. Perhaps due to ignorance of the history of recent successes, some decided to collect the bill with Gavi at the wrong time.
