If you were Joan Garcia...

The football fan is a child who, unlike all children, prefers not to grow up and remain a child, even if it means living in the shadow of a lifetime. This is the only way to explain the furor caused by betrayals of one's football team, that serious crime committed by those signed by their greatest rival.

In a society reluctant to make long-term commitments—think marriages, employment contracts, summer vacation spots—football is an exception, and football has become commodified. Refusing to accept reality is what turns fans into sentimentalists with feelings, good ones when they're good, and very bad-tempered when they're bad. Otherwise, no one would be surprised that Joan Garcia, a symbol of the resilient spirit of Manolo González's Espanyol , could now sign for FC Barcelona , ​​a team with a Champions League spot. If Joan Garcia's season had been spent in goal for Barça , he'd be in goal today in the Spain-France match.

RCD Espanyol should consider why their emerging players don't last long.

We can now say mass, sing "La bien pagá," or wait for Deputy Rufián to recover the famous tweet about Judas's silver coins dedicated to Puigdemont. It doesn't matter; Joan Garcia has entered a sort of dark history for RCD Espanyol. Goodbye applause, goodbye kisses on the crest, goodbye loyalty to the colors.

The outrage strikes me as both unfair and understandable, and it's not Barcelona fans who can give lessons in behavior after the deplorable harassment meted out to Luis Figo, whom some idiots still shout "traitor!" at when they meet him on the street. In all honesty, I'm one of those who have fond memories of his time at FC Barcelona for all he did on the pitch. And that's despite the fact that, unlike the Blue and White goalkeeper, he didn't grow up in Barça's youth system or leave Portugal because he'd dreamed of Barcelona since he was a kid. He came for the money, and he left for the money. Having loved and cared deeply for a woman doesn't give you the right to kill her if she goes off with someone else...

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There's something unfair about those who accuse professionals of doing what's best for their own interests. You can't crucify a player who has worked his hardest and given so much. If we're going to point the finger, RCD Espanyol should try to be a club with greater aspirations than avoiding promotion and skimping on reinforcements. Or accept its limitations: buying little, transferring a lot. This is where the anger should be directed, because those who remain unconditionally loyal to a club—if we're talking about Espanyol, we're talking about Raúl Tamudo—don't always receive the reward they deserve. They can even leave through the back door...