I wasn’t sure if Pep should play Fabregas against Real Madrid last night.
My overview was : Catalonia, like other countries, needs fairytales.
I hate sagas but I like fairytales, folk myths and family narratives.
In many eras, and many cultures, a young man leaves his family to go abroad, finds love and big adventures and traumas in a distant land, longs for home, and eventually returns to provide a huge moment of joy among his people.
Humans need that fairytale, that odyssey by a bold young adventurer who comes back to where he belongs. His return adds to their identity, their sense of belonging.
To me that’s such a powerful narrative.
I thought it would be shame and a risk to chuck Fabregas into a second leg because that game would be all about Jose Mourinho and aggro and Cristiano Ronaldo.
I reckoned the fairytale was bigger than the rivalry, a stronger story, so I thought that Pep should wait and make Cesc\’s Nou Camp debut onto a self-contained event, giving the young prince’s homecoming much more resonance.
In other words : while Alexis Sanchez is just a hot footballer, Cesc Fabregas is a favourite son and a family member.
There was so much going on yesterday that, incredibly, I completely forgot about the Super Cup second leg, which was a 10pm kick off.
At 9.55pm I remembered and ran downstairs to watch it and Barcelona won 3-2 in injury time, following last Sunday’s 2-2 draw in Madrid.
I agree with Pep and I also agree with Pique.
Pep said, “If we have such a match in pre-season, that says a lot about the players. We have seen some things here from both teams at an incredibly high level.”
Quite. A phenomenal level.The first leg was like that too.
Two thrillers in August! Wow!
Iniesta sliced through onto Messi\’s defence-splitting pass to score one of the goals of the season to make it 1-0, Ronaldo jabbed in Benzema\’s deflected shot for 1-1, Messi put Barcelona ahead with an angled dink after Pique backheeled into his run in 45, Benzema knocked in a loose ball for 2-2 in 82, Fabregas came on and soon found Messi, who released Adriano on the right and spurted forward to volley past Casillas and win it in stoppage time.
Aggregate score : Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 4
A violent scissors kick by mad Marcelo on Fabregas earned him a red card. That was another reason I would not have played Fabregas : I didn\’t want him to be targeted and injured in his first game.
After a nasty brawl, the referee sent off Ozil and David Villa as well.
Do the Spanish FA have a charge of “bringing the game into disrepute”?
Always remember that Mourinho’s Porto took gamesmanship to a new level.
Gerard Pique said that Jose Mourinho is wrecking Spanish football.
He’s right and that\’s tragic.
As I say, I hate transfer sagas. The longest and most annoying was Anelka.
But I\’ve hated the Fabregas and Nasri sagas and tried to write as little as possible about them.
Regular readers will be familiar with my view: Fabregas is a superb character and a world class playmaker-goalscorer and I wish him every success. He was wasting precious years with mediocrities at Arsenal.
He\’s 24 and deserves to play in a great team and win 10 trophies with Barcelona.
I never agreed with those who said: Barcelona don\’t need him, he won\’t get in the side.
That is crap.
Barca do need him and he will score dozens of goals. Match-winning goals.
For me it’s simple : Fabregas should be with Messi and Xavi and Iniesta, plus Pique, his best friend. He should not be with Diaby and Almunia and Rosicky and Walcott.