Barcelona vs. Liverpool: Welcome to Lionel Messi's temple

Thousands of fans received in 1998 (and again in 2002) the Serbian national basketball team in Belgrade with chants of "Ми имамо свога Бога, име му је Бодирога," which translates as "we have our own God and his name is Bodiroga."

Sport is a polytheistic religion full of deities of greater or lesser significance, depending on the intensity of the faith professed by their faithful: from Cruyff to Maradona, from Chavez to Ali or from Jordan to Bodiroga, all of them worshiped with devotion. Barça is no exception: we have our God, his name is Leo Messi and his temple is the Camp Nou.

"Whenever our captain says something the rest of us follow. We are right there with him, Messi at the front and us following," said Ivan Rakitic on Tuesday, as if his words were from a sacred text. Amen. That's what's enabled Barça to win year after year, season after season. 

LEADER  

Messi's leadership is not debatable because, in addition, it is recognized transversally across Barcelonismo. Those who rule in the club and its employees, the coaching staff and the players, the supporters and, even, rivals. Age or football ideology doesn't come into it because nobody argues about what Leo Messi means to football.

If Barça's No.10 points to the Champions League, the rest of the players begin to row towards Madrid. Jugen Klopp, in his eagerness to free his team from the pressure of playing with almost a hundred thousand people, said that Camp Nou is not a temple of the game. Denying Camp Nou the status of a football temple is, no matter how many explanations are given, a disregard for history. To reduce the lineage of a stadium in which Messi has built the most imposing legend ever written in the sport is to not understand anything

RESPONSE 

Barça's fans are always up for the big events. They arrive with war paints on their faces. There's no stage more imposing for the opposition or more motivating for Barça. Klopp's done nothing but spur on those who always respond when they feel attacked. And on Wednesday, almost 100,000 fans will go to Camp Nou ready to push their team towards victory. 

Barça, with Messi serving as the master of ceremonies, will be one voice against Liverpool. When the No.10 decided that the Champions should be the big goal, there was nothing more to talk about, just start blowing in the same direction and shout to the world what we are: "Blaugrana al vent, un crit valent. Tenim un nom que el sap tothom: ¡Barça! ¡Barça! ¡Barça!"