This was not the best week of Barcelona. At first, the victory over Chelsea, which seemed to be in my pocket, suddenly slipped away in compensated time, and the calmness and courtesy inherent in Raikard instantly disappeared. On Friday, the Catalans flew to A Coruña to clash with Deportivo the next day. But as soon as the team went down the ramp, it became known that the father of Carles Puyol died as a result of an industrial accident. Without leaving the tarmac, the team captain immediately headed back to Barcelona.
Needless to say, how difficult it is at such moments for friends and relatives of the deceased? As well as blasphemously diminish the pain experienced by the best defender of Barca. Those who, unfortunately, the next day had a chance to play a football match in public, are instilled with a binding feeling of the inappropriateness of the action itself. A feeling that even professional football players can overcome is very difficult.
In the absence of a key player, Barca will redraw the roster and sincerely promise to give everything on the field “for itself and for that guy”. And Ronaldinho, after realizing a penalty on Riasor, will kiss Puyol’s captain’s armband temporarily entrusted to him in support. But on the whole, the colorless game of Barca will say that the salad of lighter champions and mourning news is indigestible.
The Marca newspaper, expressing sympathy and admiration for Puyol, was not as generous about the game itself, explaining the draw to Barca as rivals “lose respect” for the Catalans and are no longer afraid of them. After the wards of Ricardo infuriated Chelsea, says Marca, now any force team can hurt the Catalans.
Yes, under Joaquín Caparros, the Depor began to act much more athletic, but the reason for the draw was the judge’s strange decision to give the hosts a penalty. Probably for the fact that at the end of the first half they were so loudly moaning about the 11-meter goal assigned to their goal. But if two Galician defenders took Saviola into the obvious “box”, then there was no foul on the part of the Barca player. However, this happens here every week. Spanish judges are in a different spatio-temporal continuum. If we compare the arbitrators with the doctors, then this is like knowing how to treat, but instead just shrug, dooming the patient to certain death.
Unexpected nobility was shown by Hispaniola players who went to the match against Valencia in T-shirts with the words “Hold on, Pouilly!” Outside of Spain, maybe they didn’t understand anything, but at least the relations between the two Catalan clubs didn’t get any worse. And even though former Barça footballers (De la Peña, Moa, Rufete) play in the ranks of more modest countrymen, it was still a touching and respectable act.
But trouble, alas, never comes alone. On Saturday, Sergi Lopez committed suicide by throwing himself under a train in Granollers, near Barcelona. Former Barca player of the 80s and older brother Gerard Lopez, another former grenade-blue footballer now playing for Monaco. It is not known whether the team learned about this event before the Saturday match, but they probably tried to protect it from this terrible news.
And then Seville poured salt on the wound, taking the upper hand over Osasuna and topping the standings. But the point is not that in the last two years, Barca has accustomed everyone to its permanent leadership, but in the emerging impression, which was not there last season. And a cursory glance at the current ranking card is enough to see an entertaining alignment: the third place of Zaragoza, which is only a point behind Barca, is threatened by a quintet of competitors.
The terrible week of Barcelona is not the only reminder that the players, after all, are also people. In the middle of last week in Real Madrid, a piquant story happened - a quarrel between Antonio Cassano and Fabio Capello. The Italian striker, who has not been favored in the team recently, shouted at his compatriot something like this: “Your shameless face! I supported you in Roma - and that's what you paid me back! ”It was said in Italian or Spanish, history is silent. But it was said for sure. Cassano recalled to Don Fabio a week ago event when he and Ronaldo spent almost the entire game at the edge just to ensure that the coach who asked them to stretch there ignored them in the end.
However, in comparison, the story of overcoming difficulties in the Barca camp seems much more important and deserving of human sympathy than the showdown in the galactic camp. May everyone be rewarded according to his deeds.
Translation by Andrey KARNAUKHOV