The beautiful and battered cup

There is something sad these days in Barcelona when the melody of the Champions. Where before one moved to the images of Koeman at Wembley, Belletti in Paris, Messi in Rome and London or Neymar in Berlin, now all demons appear, especially the most recent ones. The darkest night of the last 40 years in the caldera of Anfield and the shame of August 14 in Lisbon, where players with endless track records and tremendous prestige threw the jersey of a club with 121 years of history. As before 1992, when the posts in Bern or the eighties hit in Seville, the old European Cup once again has a cursed point in Can Barça. In his first speech as captain, in the Gamper from 2018, Messi He christened it “the beautiful and desired cup.” But the only thing that Barça has done in recent years is mistreat her.

If any name is associated with the European cup in Barcelona, ​​it is Ronald Koeman. He was the hero who broke the curse and there is nothing like a first time to know that nothing is impossible. Koeman hopes to be able to bring that charisma to the team, to restore the passion for racing, not the fear that has taken hold of him in recent years. Of course, Koeman warns: “We are not the top favorite.” It didn't seem like an exercise in false modesty from the Dutchman, but a crushing reality.

The rival in the debut is the endearing Ferencvaros (follow the game live on As.com), a historical football player, winner of the Mitropa Cup (1928 and 1937) and a Fairs Cup (1965), with carnal ties to Barça through Kubala, Czibor and Kocsis that, however, is now lost in the depths of the UEFA ranking (135). Winning is non-negotiable for Barça. Koeman will move the tree with a view to the Classic, although it is difficult to think that he will dispense with Griezmann and De Jong, in what would be read as an immediate punishment. And of Messi, the creator of the beautiful cup …, and mistreated.