Vásquez: “Last year we had the best and we wasted it”

His passion for Barça accompanies him on all his travels, and now that he's in Berlin, talking about literature, Juan Gabriel Vasquez (Colombian, 48 years old, Alfaguara prize, author now of Look back, an impressive story, that of the brothers Sergio and Marianela Cabrera, who lived the China of Mao and the guerrillas of their country) has guaranteed connection that will allow you to see, from Colombia, the Classic which will be played tonight at the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium in Valdebebas between the two giants of Spanish football.

Now it seems that his team is finally having a good time.

It has been a time of great suffering this last year.

How have you experienced the bad moments of Barça during the past seasons?

I started to follow him at the age of nine, around the World Cup in Spain, by Maradona, from Colombia. They were not successful years. Koeman's goal at Wembley was something of a miracle and the Dream Team was a dream. But when I came to live in Barcelona in 1999, the history of Barça was, with exceptions, a history of resignations. That year we were champions. I thought that would be the natural state of affairs. But terribly difficult years began, we got to be in the fourteenth place in LaLiga. Then Laporta won the elections, Ronaldinho came and that very rapid transformation took place that would end in Guardiola's Barça. That Barça coincided with my entire period in Barcelona. I lived wrapped in a kind of deceptive reality. We were “the ones who never lost”, as a book in which I also participated said. Now, when there are moments of disappointment, I remember that this is an unusual time that has been lengthened because Messi has prolonged his active life. But it is exceptional. And it's a miracle that setbacks don't happen more often.

There are still two events: seeing Messi still play with the Barcelona shirt and following the Clásicos …

Messi is most likely the best player in history. It does not seem easy to say, I do not say it lightly, but with the awareness that there were also Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff, Di Stéfano … The whole balance of the team depends on how he is and that shows extraordinary health, without destroy his life, as it happened to Maradona. He has changed over the years, he has become a haranguing captain. It is not difficult for me to understand that the health of an entire team revolves around this character. Last year we had the best and we wasted it for blunders that have nothing to do with football. This is a boy with a ball who wants to win. He has not lost that passion as a child to go out on the pitch and win the game. That explains its longevity.

Barça has greeted this Classic with a virtual banner featuring De Jong and Pedri, under a headline that says “You want to be Classic” … Do you share that desire to face Real Madrid?

The desire I never lose. Since 2006 I have lived the Classic with very stimulating victories, 5-0, 2-6 … Mourinho spoiled the Classics, turned a fantastic rivalry into grotesque fights, and almost spoiled the taste that many find for these games … I live it very consciously , well aware that this is not a match but a history of matches.

And what flavor have the losses against the eternal rival in the Classics left behind?

We don't want to remember! Selective amnesia comes in and does its homework, and that seems fantastic to me… They are two teams that are somewhat broken, that have had to reinvent themselves. I see them reinvent themselves almost match by match. Ramos will not be there, maybe Piqué will be missing, and when the historical ones are not there, something of the mythology is lost. What will happen? Victory is absolutely essential for us. But more than the result, what we hope will be epic, much more than finesse or strategy.