What is inconsequential?

The ripple effect of success is endless. Coinciding with the La Liga title, one of the protagonists (played by Hannah Eibinder, actress and writer) in the series Hacks wears a vintage and premonitory Kappa T-shirt. The protagonist is the epitome of modernity: non-binary sexuality and an environmental awareness worthy of Greta Thunberg. It's an anecdotal detail that accompanies a few days of euphoria that yesterday, just before the defeat against Villarreal , led to a debate about whether Barça should have played only with homegrown players, imitating that milestone during Tito Vilanova's tenure.

It's one of the effects of Barça's happiness: pondering while accepting a defeat as inconsequential, with the crowd waving their hands. This patriotic fetishism is a novelty that, until now, wasn't part of the protocols that animate matches in which the team has already achieved its objective. To be consistent, Barça should never play only with homegrown players as a tribute to its origins. History tells us so: Scottish, English, and Swiss expats who, vetoed by local sports associations, decide to found a club. Some expats are so converted to the cause of the club and the country that they propel their identity to its current limits (back to Hacks ).

To be consistent, Barça should never play only with homegrown players.

From here, we know that the perfect balance lies in a majority presence of homegrown players combined with imported gems who could be converted to the crest. An example of such a conversion would be Hansi Flick, but we could add all the non-indigenous players who have contributed to a title with a less dramatic and more spectacular narrative than that of previous titles. Then there's the hangover of the street, a ritual that may seem mechanized, but which, in practice, acts as a cement of memory.

Those of us who were present at the 1979 Cup Winners' Cup parade many years later accompanied the children we never imagined we'd have to the 2006 La Liga parade (my daughter wanted to see Víctor Valdés march past because, according to her, "He's very handsome"). Images of Crystal Palace fans after winning the FA Cup have been circulating these days. The emotion they convey belongs to the intangible dimension of football . We see parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren weeping uncontrollably. Like some of the behavior during Friday's parade, these reactions are exaggerated, and it would be futile to analyze them rationally. But they are the key to deciphering the bond—in victory and defeat—between fans and their club. On Friday, the Guardia Urbana (City Police) reported more than 670,000 people on the streets of Barcelona . Most of them were young people and children (accompanied, or not, by more or less responsible adults). In 2006, Barça was so happy that it held two streets just two weeks apart. The first brought together 1,200,000 people, and the second, after the Champions League victory in Paris, drew half a million. Those of us who were there then and those who attended on Friday represent the "tant se val d'on venim" and the diversity of criteria when it comes to deciding what is and isn't inconsequential.