If football rewards the clever, then the coach of Borussia Dortmund certainly deserves a top spot on that list. I’m not sure if he caught this Tuesday’s edition of SPORT, but I would bet some of my acrylic nails – I always keep one finger ready to point – that Nuri Sahin spotted a highlight on the front page of this newspaper. “De Jong is my favorite midfielder. Barcelona must be very happy to have a player like him,” the German ‘mister’ responded to a Catalan journalist in the press conference ahead of tonight’s match. Clever, I repeat, the rival manager touched upon one of the most painful issues surrounding Barça at the start of this season. He didn’t place the ‘pearl’ Lamine Yamal on the podium. He didn’t highlight one of the ‘black beasts’ that face the blaugrana squad, the top scorer Lewandowski. He didn’t applaud the kids from La Masia, who are a significant part of this campaign that sees Dortmund and FC Barcelona leveling in the Champions League standings. He didn’t even mention the 0-4 at the Santiago Bernabéu against the reigning continental champions. No. Sahin praised one of the most criticized players at the Catalan club. Cleverer than hunger itself.
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Did I say hunger? The kind that both sides feel tonight in the German stronghold. From need, they have made a virtue, and Hansi Flick’s side arrives in enemy territory amid both acclaim and doubt. We come from a week wherein not much has been gained and where someone lost a tooth. Dani Olmo is awaited, desired, and applauded, while the fear grows of whether he will be registered by January. This is a topic that is brushed aside in some circles, yet I find it as concerning as it is ‘occupying’; allow me a twist on the definition. Walking on a tightrope is no longer just the modus vivendi and operandi in the boardrooms. The game lives without truly thriving, caught between excellence and neglect. We are witnessing a team that leaves us with a -large- heart in a -small- fist, constantly on edge, more concerned with their own than with others. That’s how we see it, with a Betis that didn’t fall once into an offside that helped them score many points. The Sevillans, who ended up drawing a match that felt like a defeat for Barça, showcased once again the bitter side of a team that is inconsistent.
If football is for the clever, it is also for the likes of Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí, and Casadó. If we add to that the feeling that the surroundings affect them little or not at all – blessed youth! – it’s possible that the cauldron of the South Goal at Signal Iduna Park could become a source of motivation for them. Newcomers to these grounds, the young starters of FC Barcelona thrive more on hostility than friendship. We’re talking about the contagious fervor that extreme support generates and what it does to these kids, who revel in the challenge. They are the same ones who, in the face of racist insults at the Bernabéu, turn around and ‘ignore’ it, and who take a hit, have it stitched up, and the next day, they’re back at it again, no facial redundancy intended. I believe that experience counts in these types of encounters, but given what we have seen this season, the game is caught between the clever and the young prospects.
PS: For readers born in the 21st century, the acronym stands for Young But Fully Prepared. The post-war kids of then are today’s millennials.
