Risk addicts

In May 1992, when the classics weren't called classics but "matches of maximum rivalry", Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, who didn't know it would end up being a classic, wrote in El País : "I propose that Barça be considered a secular institution and a religion without heaven or hell, or with relative heavens and hells: heaven is beating Real Madrid and hell is losing to Barbastro. Being a Barça fan, we have both ends secured."

Applying this doctrine, yesterday we reached the top of the heap, keeping the intrigue going until the very last minute against a Real Madrid team that, despite our accusations of "not playing for anything," was on the verge of spoiling the party for us. The stadium of this heaven—Montjuïc—has a unique right of admission. Season ticket holders gain entry at a very reasonable price, while passavolants must face fees ranging from 745 to 5,000 euros. The official excuse justifying such a strategy is called "dynamic box office." It's a euphemism that the globalized capitalism that Vázquez Montalbán so detested has imposed as a shortcut to feeding what, during the Nuñista era, was called "atypical revenue."

The Flick system manages superiority with an almost libertarian criterion

No one will be asking for their ticket or season ticket after another thrilling match, with alternatives that confirm what the entire season has confirmed: that if Hansi Flick were called Hansi Risc, he would be the same person. It seems that, as a method, Barça has developed an addiction to adversity as a narrative engine for stories that require the challenge of a comeback to culminate in a festival of offensively chaotic or chaotically offensive football .

Effort, commitment, and mentality are crucial, but so is talent, which, in the case of Lamine Yamal, yesterday held the astonished attention of Romário and Henry, not only of spectators around the world. In Flick's system, superiority is managed according to an almost libertarian criterion. The primary, Cruyff-esque idea of ​​always scoring one more goal than your opponent has a weakness: it allows, as in Milan, risk management to blind us and distance us from a mature understanding of the circumstances. The voracity of Raphinha, who yesterday scored a goal like those scored by Eto'o, or the accuracy of Fermín, who managed to frame in our memories a disallowed goal as if it were legal, define a team more dynamic than the greedy box-office greed that, with our complicity, the board encourages.

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Let's go back to the classic: Vázquez Montalbán said that, precisely because for the Catalans, winning against Madrid is heaven and losing against Barbastro is hell, he believed in Barça. So did Flick. Only in this way can we understand why he agreed to coach the first team and why, after meeting with Deco and Bojan, Deco told President Laporta: "We've spoken with a coach." A coach who has earned the right to win La Liga —according to him, the most honest title: it depends on us or on a slip-up by Madrid. A coach addicted to risk and who, beyond the pitch, cultivates a down-to-earth, down-to-earth local friendliness that doesn't stop him from shopping at the Galvany market and visiting the historic Encarna Mauri stall. House specialties? Fleischkäse Gebacken Fein, Leberwurst Fein und Grob, or the sinful Hungarian salami.