The KO in Bilbao, last nail in the crisis that opened Anfield: chronology of nine black months in Barcelona

San Mamés has been the last nail, so far, for Barcelona. The defeat against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey means the nth symptom that the glorious decade culé collapses under a project that has long ceased to make sense and is diluted between the blows of a Josep María Bartomeu and its board of directors expires and a team unable to push through the big finals. If Turin or Rome already saw it coming, the 4-0 at Anfield marked the beginning of a nine-month black journey as never remembered in the modern history of Can Barça.

Like a blow against a dying body. This is how Williams's goal sounded for Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the 19/20 Cup. Messi, alone in another great game, could not avoid the elimination, nor a Quique Setién who has seen how his dream of training at the Camp Nou is drawn into a war in which he is the one that has less to do, the only one of those present that was not on May 7, 2019 when everything was triggered under a 'Help' in the city of the Beatles.

Nine months ago the box culé arrived in Liverpool with the desire to return to a Champions League final. The desire to try again to be champion with Madrid, morbid through, on the horizon. The 3-0 of the first leg seemed enough result, but that night Jürgen Klopp unleashed an ode to football that is still latent in the king's sport and is feared by anyone who gets ahead. Four goals, with the last of Origi and the famous Alexander-Arnold corner kick as a climax and unforgettable nightmare for Barcelona.

It was the fourth attempt in vain to recover the continental crown and the scars of that wound were going to become more painful when less than twenty days later the Blaugrana entity faced the final of the Copa del Rey. Before Valencia, the season collapsed despite having won LaLiga comfortably. A 2-1 team ché that put Ernesto Valverde in the eye of the hurricane before a summer that was precipitating changes.

But the staff interceded for their technician and the board gave him a new vote of confidence. However, the other desire of the players, to see Neymar again, was not going to come true and instead came a Griezmann who was not going to have a welcome to the Brazilian by the heavyweight of the veteran . A Messi who longed for his great friend, with whom with Suarez he won the fifth Champions and the second triplet of the club.

Thus, the directive relayed all its sides with the PSG and only the French striker, an announcement months ago De Jong, Junior Firpo and the nth rare movements of the Board to take over Net ended up being the reinforcements for the new campaign. That in which Barça promised to fight again for the Champions League and strike a domestic blow to a Madrid that precisely did not arrive with all the necessary strength.

It was confirmed in the first months, when Zidane stayed on the tightrope. But in the city of Barcelona, ​​Valverde did not finish closing the crisis and that was able to take advantage of a white box that, as soon as he got one more march, made everything jump through the air. It was from the postponed Classic, who knows what would have happened to play a 26-O and not an 18-D. There the Madrid was superior, submitted to the Camp Nou but the 0-0 postponed the decision of the directive to press the red button to throw the Txingurri.

The Super Cup and the 'Valverde case'

After that, Christmas arrived, toast to the sun for the new year and at the first of change tie in the derby against a Espanyol colista. There, the Extremaduran coach already had the hours counted (or that has been made known from the surroundings of Bartomeu), but with the Saudi Supercup everything rushed. The best game of the year through, Atlético was able to take advantage of about ten horrific final minutes to sneak into the final and open, again, the theater in the offices.

Trips to Qatar to see and convince Xavi, not from him and Koeman and finally Setién's letter about García Pimienta, which convinced less than the Cantabrian to close the embarrassment with Valverde. Cruyffismo returned to Can Barça, or that was sold, before a sad and possessive 1-0 to Granada, an in extremis victory against Ibiza and the defeat against Valencia were a blow behind another against all Barcelona.

He was exemplified by the Camp Nou half-empty against Leganés and Levante and made him burst an interview by Eric Abidal to Sport. The sports director, who was to serve as a liaison between the board and the staff, explained all the latest movements with little experience of pointing to the locker room without specific names. Messi, captain and former partner of his, had no mercy and through social networks he took the step that he had never dared to formalize before. Direct criticism, fire in the war and Bartomeu meeting urgently with the French.

There was no dismissal, but there was runrún who has helped Athletic to have taken a slice in the Cup. The last nail was nine months black where everything falls apart. As if that were not enough, Dembélé and Suárez injured until summer, the board without finding a replacement in winter and urgently for a badly placed patch to cover their incomprehensible decisions. There are still three months left and the Champions League and LaLiga are still alive, but the shadow of a blank course, the decision of Messi and an election, at the moment still for 2021, threaten to be the black culmination of the most glorious era in the history of the Barcelona.