The self-destruction of Barça in 15 days

The self-destruction of Barça in 15 days

Lluís Mascaró

Director de Información Deportiva de Prensa Ibérica

Bartomeu (de espaldas) y Leo Messi él día de la última renovación del argentino por el Barça
Bartomeu (de espaldas) y Leo Messi él día de la última renovación del argentino por el Barça | EP

The ability for Barça to self-destruct is directly proportional to how the club has been for over 120 years. Ever since Hans Gamper founded FC Barcelona in 1899, the club has suffered many ups and downs. Some of which were quite tragic. However, what's happened over the last 15 days is worse than any nightmare Barça supporters could've imagined. From the 14th August until today the club has suffered its worst-ever defeat in Europe (8-2 loss versus Bayern), sacked Quique Setien (the second manager of the season after earlier sacking Valverde), appointed Koeman, had Messi send a burofax asking to be released on a free transfer and Bartomeu offered to step down if it meant Leo would remain at the club. All of those factors have caused a major implosion which has sent 'Barcelonismo' into deep desperation. And this with the overwhelming fear the worst is yet to come.

The situation is sad. Very sad. There's a chance the team will lose the best footballer of all-time and that, from this moment, nothing will ever be the same again. An era of success has come to an end and it's time to rebuild Barça from the ground up. It's time to support those veterans who remain and, above all, believe in those youngsters coming through the academy. Barça can't make the mistake of trying to replace Messi with a new signing. However good that player might be, no one is better than Messi. Spending hundreds of millions of euros on a new superstar isn't the best way to replace Leo. We must create a new Barça that is bigger than any of its players or their desires. It'll be hard, of course it will. Success might take a while to arrive but it's the only way out of this... whilst we wait for Messi to say why he's leaving. Or announces that he's staying. That seems unlikely but I don't want to rule out anything at the moment.

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