The pleasure of cheating matches

Before, during, and after the match, reporters on the pitch ask the players and coaches if Valladolid -Barça is a trap game. At this point, every game is. It's the consequence of having hypertrophied the schedule to the point of collapse and, imitating the worst vices of basketball, made competitions meaningless. The sustained success stories of teams from before this overexploitation are now unimaginable. Performance and expectation are lost, and although the thrilling charm of games like the 3-3 draw against Inter is emphasized, the toll to be paid is perfectly expressed in Barça's agonizing performance in the final La Liga matches.

Fortunately, we culés have made it this far, and tomorrow and Sunday, we'll find out whether the La Liga and Champions League coins land on heads or tails. This is the privilege that leads to an outcome in which fatigue and VAR will be crucial in resolving the intrigue. Looking back, many moments this season have been memorable. Precisely for that reason, we can take heart in the fact that we have, at best, three unforgettable matches left.

After Messi's "It's not enough for us," we'll now know how far we've gone.

The performance has overcome the disappointing inertia of a few years that Messi inaugurated the day when, with his usual parsimony, he defined the situation of the team (and, by extension, the club) with his categorical "It's not enough for us." I ask ChatGTP to translate Messi's phrase into Catalan, and the machine offers me " we're not up to scratch." The contribution of the team coached by Flick has allowed the team (and, by extension, the club) to reach higher levels and place itself among an elite—leader of the misnamed domestic competition and among the top four for the top continental title—which has changed the perception of the team. If a registration process for a Montjuïc season ticket were opened today, although the treatment members receive from the club is incomprehensibly humiliating, there would surely be more than the 17,000 or 22,000 registrations previously.

The expectation is fueled by the game and the arrival of new idols who connect with a more reactive and irreverent way of understanding football rituals. If the 21st century already brought us the evolution from fan to customer, now we invest in a type of clientele whose every impulse, potentially profitable, is controlled through technology and who, on the field, are treated like herd cattle hypnotized by the dehumanizing energy of unanimity.

And tomorrow? Every Barça fan will do what they can. I'll choose the option of responsible suffering, which is the one I'm most comfortable with. The result of the first leg worries me, but at the same time, I want to catch, almost blindly, the confidence of Lamine Yamal when he says he's convinced Barça will reach the final. Is it feigned confidence? Yes, but just as Barça's support taught me to adopt the fatalistic tics of my ancestors, I now understand that I have to project myself toward the protocols of future generations. And the future, this week, begins tomorrow.