Barcelona Kings once more

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This article was published 02/10/2020 (1856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Only seven weeks ago it seemed the sky was falling at FC Barcelona. Loaded with stars — aiming for them and often reaching them — the team was demolished 8-2 by Bayern Munich in a Champions League quarter-final. It might as well have been a different lifetime. 

Lionel Messi, who threatened to leave the club in the result’s aftermath but was always going to stay, stayed, and Luis Suarez was made the fall guy.

Suarez plays for Atletico, now, and he’s already succeeding at the Wanda Metropolitano, where he scored twice on his debut against Granada on Sunday. Nelson Semedo, who also took considerable criticism following the Bayern debacle, has joined Premier League outfit Wolves.

It’s hard to recall a similar scenario, when the consequences of a single result were so immediate and severe, although Joachim Low’s discarding of much of the Germany squad following the 2018 World Cup springs to mind. And there has never, ever been an occasion that prompted such a vicious response from the fickle Catalan press as the drubbing in Lisbon.

But seven weeks, it seems, heals all wounds at Camp Nou.

“Barca against the elements,” was Friday’s glowing analysis from AS, a day after Barcelona’s 10-man triumph at Celta Vigo. This, apparently (suddenly?), is a squad that excels amidst adversity. “Captain Messi commands the resistance of Barca in Balaidos,” crowed Sport, adding that the 3-0 triumph over an opponent that finished a point above relegation last season was sufficient proof that the Blaugrana have remembered how “to be a team.”

To be fair, Barcelona did play extremely well, and 17-year-old Ansu Fati once again stood out by scoring with an arrow of a shot after doing brilliantly to control Philippe Coutinho’s pass.

Fati now has more goals than Messi had at his age, and Coutinho — loaned out to Bayern last term — also received top marks from the sports dailies. As did manager Ronald Koeman, who was brought in to unapologetically revamp the side. One of the Dutchman’s first acts as Barcelona boss was to inform Suarez, over the phone, that he was no longer wanted at the club where he was third-highest goal-scorer all time. He has since insisted that he’s not “the bad guy,” although no one will very much care so long as he both gets results and encourages attractive football.

To Koeman’s credit, he has done both so far, compiling an aggregate 7-0 score-line over the two Primera Division matches he has overseen. If he and his players can win a third match in a row on Sunday against Sevilla (2 p.m., beIN Sports), the Bayern defeat will seem even further in the past.

It could even save Josep Maria Bartomeu’s job.

Club president for six years, Bartomeu appeared all but certain to walk the plank last month. Despite a tenure that included four La Liga titles, another four Copas del Rey and the 2015 Champions League as part of a treble-winning season, his magic touch had seemed to wear off of late, what with the unpopular appointments of managers Ernesto Valverde and Quique Setien in succession. That single Champions League was also not nearly enough for an enterprise with such an affinity for Europe.

To no one’s surprise, a motion was brought in which his position was to be, and will be, put to a confidence vote. Had the poll been conducted on August 15, he would have been thrown overboard without a second thought. But the retention of Messi—who, incidentally, despises Bartomeu—and the acquisitions of Miralem Pjanic, Francisco Trincao and Sergino Dest, as well as the recent performances, has rather satiated the anger of the ballot-holding socios.

So far 10,000 of the 16,500 required signatures have been collected, but given the rate of return and remaining ballots, the result is no longer a foregone conclusion. In fact, a win at home to the Europa League champions could perhaps turn the tide in Bartomeu’s favour.

By the same token, a loss could spell the end of him and reignite the fury of the fans.

Few clubs place such existential import on single results. None are willing to be as extreme in their response as Barcelona.

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