Ramon Besa says, from his calm and profound wisdom, that the big problem for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is that before the season begins they already have all the trophies of the year in their museum. Come on, winning them is no longer even a reason for joy, but rather it’s like when you came home – this never happened at mine – with excellent grades and the best comment was summed up in that it was normal.
Surely, friend Ramon, we should eat together once more to review these objectives because it seems to me that times are much more scarce – and even a Super Cup can be celebrated – but the argument is perfect to place ourselves in the position of those clubs that are They find themselves in February with the option of winning a title and taking a trophy to the museum.
Yes, now, I know that in the financial world in which we live, qualification for the Champions League, the League, is the daily meal and the food that we aspire to nourish our finances so that next year we can balance our budget, meet the economic expectations of our players and, if necessary, access the market to improve the squad.
The point is that in this world, in which to say present is to live in the future, we all project ourselves on the achievements of our teams as if they were already assured. Let’s see, if you are a Real Madrid fan, although you are not if you are only a football follower, it would seem that this League should already be traveling to the new Bernabéu to contribute to the inauguration of the new museum and that they should already be engraving the name of Real Madrid in order to shorten the protocols.
If we look at the Cup, we will see that we have contradictory versions. Perhaps it is all a consequence of the fact that the four teams in contention are not one of those – perhaps a bit more in the case of Atlético – that are required to have one trophy per season.
When the playoffs are played in a single match, the concept is clear, since you must win the match to access the next round. And that leads to a strategy that can only be to go for the game, with various tactics, but seeking victory. Although this changes significantly when we reach this semi-final phase and round-trip play.
The first reason, because they are already semi-finals, you can smell the final on the other side of the river and the fans are starting to get excited, reserve, dream and ask themselves: “What if this year? Secondly, the season has already advanced enough to know what the expectations are going to be in the other competitions and playing the Cup is something very different from playing money (well, the Cup is also money, but in a different way). And the last one, because by February the season has provided us with a bag of certain disappointments that we hope the Cartuja final will help make bearable. And the 180-minute playoffs are the devil’s fault.
But notice that the one who has gained the most advantage in this first phase of the semifinals, Athletic, perhaps due to its deep knowledge of its competition, surely also due to the calm disposition of its coach, has invited its excited followers to continue suffering in the return match. Surely, so that no one thinks that the final has been achieved, but above all because achievements in football, in sports and in life require a lot of effort, work and dark dedication to reach enjoyment, to the party since that simple gesture of placing a glass on a pedestal in a museum becomes a reality.
Managing expectation is one of the most delicate issues for anyone who has been in sports. Being excessively realistic can lead to lethal conformism, but being excessively euphoric can mean believing that you have won the title before playing the tie and thus being one step closer to losing it.
Yes, virtue should be there, in the middle. But anyone tells it to everyone, all of them, those who are already reserving hotels and trips, making plans for outings and celebrations, fulfilling Cruyff’s saying of “go out and enjoy” leaving aside how much you have to suffer for happiness to arrive. . If arrives.
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