Q: The Catalan Flagship: Sinking? A: No.

“Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.” -Mark Twain.
““Si ellos [Barcelona] están en crisis, nosotros [Real Madrid] vivimos en el lado oscuro.” -Iker Casillas.

While Iker Casillas’ well-put statement (generally being translated as “If Barcelona are in crisis, Real Madrid is in total darkness.”) is now being ignored by the worldwide media, there should be some emphasis put on the fact that “crisis” is the most overused word in discussions of club form.

Let’s think about what we accept as general truths at the moment – or really what we are told we should believe:

Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Chelsea are all facing crisis. Liverpool is flying high.

Really? Let’s look at current domestic table positions:
Barcelona: 1, Real Madrid: 3, Chelsea: 2; Liverpool: 3.

What about those numbers suggests any sort of crisis on the part of any of those clubs? Yes, Madrid are out of the Copa del Rey, but Liverpool is also out of the FA Cup. “Crisis” apparently means you’re not outright winning the league by the end of February (Liverpool again fall into that category). In that case, of all the teams in the major European leagues, only Lyon, Celtic, and InterMilan aren’t experiencing a crisis. And now all three have tied lower-ranked members of different leagues; they must be in crisis! What a load of crap. Crisis is overused and is extremely representative of the current culture in world soccer: money talks.

What I mean is that because Real Madrid and Barcelona are such huge clubs financially, the world views it as their duty to win every game, perhaps they get to tie each other, perhaps they win because of home field advantage in El Clasico. Regardless, it’s a silly notion simply because it suggests that, through money, the right to win a championship is earned. You can’t expect a win or it becomes a useless thing, a mere afterthought to a season. Instead, it should be the goal, though not the be all and end all of the experience. And yes, I know that I’m a Barcelona supporter and I can afford to say that winning the title isn’t everything because we do win championships and we are the holders of the European crown, but I began watching and playing the sport because I love it, not the politics or the violence. Real Madrid supporters and their white handkerchiefs make me glad I’m not one of them and I try to keep that in mind when we lose.

Perhaps it’s just a lifetime of disappointment in my other passion, the University of Kansas men’s basketball team (don’t point out 1988—I was 5 and didn’t have a clue), that has prepared me to be passive about losing. I’m always disappointed in the losses and they’re never fun, but they are, believe it or not, a part of the sport. It’s how your react to these losses that means something. Barcelona are still top of the league, have a chance to advance in the Champions League, and could win the Copa del Rey. Hmm. What a terrible crisis, especially with Lio Messi and Sam Eto’o returning. Jeez, what are they going to do?

Even so, I’m sure that Sport will produce fantastic claims of how now Rijkaard really is going to leave, how Ronaldinho has packed his bags for Milan, Deco is moving to Real Salt Lake; Puyol, of course, is staying. Tim at La Liga Loca posted a pretty funny email about the potential cule excuses as well as a pretty comprehensive list of quotes from throughout the week. Though, if it’s all fated anyway, why do we bother playing?

I really do feel for the teams like Mallorca that struggle gamely on though they’re obviously not going to win a championship anytime soon. I cheered for Real Sociedad when they were flying high in the league and it was especially unfortunate that it was Real Madrid that grabbed the title in the end to deny a relative minnow the chance of celebrating for at least a full year. I’m rooting for anyone other than Munich and Bremen to win the Bundesliga and if only InterMilan would be eliminated from Serie A, there’d be a chance Palermo could come away with a Scudetto. That’s not asking too much is it?

Some Related Barcelona Posts:

Category: Champions League, Copa del Rey, La Liga, Team News