Barcelona face Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday and there’s a mix feeling, excitement and fear in the air.
A sense that, here come their biggest rivals, ready to give them the final gentle, gleeful push into the abyss below. Could Barcelona lose a potential treble in record time?
The optimists reason that they are the side who have faced Real Madrid twice this season and beaten them both times, including that stunning win at the Bernabéu.
Leo Messi, the focus of much of the criticism, has scored 21 times against Real Madrid in 27 games, more goals than against anyone else. On Ironically, Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the winner last time they met in the final at Mestalla in 2011, will miss the game through injury.
Víctor Valdés is injured and there may be no natural centre-backs available. Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué and Marc Bartra all travelled with the squad but none have been given the all clear by doctors. Mascherano’s performances have dipped markedly.
And the problems go far deeper than that. All year there have been doubts, played out against a backdrop of institutional collapse; there has been bad luck but the planning has been appalling and the price being paid is a high one.
As Andrés Iniesta put it, win or lose: “If there have to be changes there have to be changes.” Two of the three captains, Puyol and Valdés, have already announced their departure but other movement – and there was to be lots of it – is on hold, pending the transfer ban imposed by Fifa for breaking rules on signing international players under 18.
Some see redemption in the cup but success at the Mestalla may bring mixed emotions. Charly Rexach played for Barcelona between 1965 and 1981 and talks about winning the cup, “their cup”, as a way of “really pissing [Real Madrid] off.” It was also a way of salvaging a season at a time when Barcelona knew they were inferior: the league title in 1974 was their first in 14 years and they had to wait a further 11 to win it again under Terry Venables.
This is nowhere near as dramatic, of course, but there is a desire not to return to that identity. This century, Barcelona are Spain’s most successful club, not Real Madrid.
Victory in the Copa del Rey will be celebrated but a cup success, even against their greatest rivals, will not make this a good season and will not alter the need for repairs. It will help, though.
