Following FC Barcelona in 2020
By: Darshan Prabhu
Tags: Football, Journey, Opinion, FC Barcelona, Thoughts

To be honest, it hasn’t been pretty….

Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Football (Soccer, if you are picky about it) is the most-watched and most followed sport on the planet. There are thousands of professional sporting clubs who play the beautiful game and each club has its fervent community of fans backing their players till the very last second of the 90.

My interest in football when I was in 7th grade when I moved to a new school. I was never really into any particular sport at that time and I played whatever I could get my hands on. Being Indian, Cricket was and still is, somewhat of a monopoly in the World of Sport. Eager to make friends, I tried to get into conversations and sound cool with the others when this kid walked up to me and asked me the question that started it all…

Messi ah Ronaldo va? (which translates to — Who’s the best? Messi or Ronaldo?)

Lionel Messi (left) and Cristiano Ronaldo (right)

At that time, I had no idea what this kid was asking me and I had to say something… so I did. I told him that I liked Messi because that was the name that he told me first. I know, middle school Darshan was as lame as Grown-up Darshan so bear with it. That day, I scrambled home and began an intense night of Google searches to figure out who this Messi guy was.

In an effort to get closer to the others, I started to say I follow FC Barcelona, Messi’s childhood club in an attempt to stay relevant and it stuck. I even bought a copy of FIFA 12 to play on my tiny little workstation PC at home. That began my journey in football, and I started loving the game both in-game and in reality. That videogame taught me the significance behind that question I was asked by this kid back in middle school. I never really watched football until my penultimate year in college to be brutally honest. My love for the game was limited to playing FIFA and watching Messi run circles around defences in those compilation videos on YouTube.

Screenshot of FIFA 12

Like many forgotten hobbies, my interest in watching and supporting FC Barcelona in 2020, when we were all locked inside with nothing to do. I didn’t know much about the team (since my PC could not handle anything above FIFA 14) and the only players I remembered were Messi and Pique. Armed with the power of the Internet, I caught up on the club and its activities in the past decade. It’s funny how you can make up for years of knowledge if you spend a couple of nights on the Internet.

COVID had thrown the footballing community into a spiral and leagues were slowly coming out of their forced hiatus half-way through 2020 when I watched my first LIVE match on Facebook Watch. It was a match against Mallorca with a vintage-looking Messi tearing up the pitch, doing Messi things. For someone who had never watched his supposed favourite team, I was stoked and brimming with excitement that night. From then on, I never missed a single game, despite all of them coming in the wee hours of the morning.

Messi(Right) celebrating with midfielder Sergio Busquets(Center) and Frenkie De Jong(Left) running up to them.

I suppose my rotten luck with terrible timing played a part because I saw a team in distress during tough opponents with players looking off-beat at significant moments. I suppose a lot of those moments looked even worse for me as my only experience in watching football was from playing FIFA, where you could shoot from the half-way line and still find the back of the net. It was difficult to see the team struggle to matter in the final third when all those videos I had watched had them play some of the most intrinsic and fluid of passes for a gentle tap-in right in front of the keeper.

The season was a mix of everything in terms of performance, high, low and everything in the middle with a lot of controversies breaking out every week. I kept up with the latest news through Twitter and YouTube (shout out to Jamie of TalkFCB) every day of the week in the build-up to games. I still remember the heavy criticisms laid out against an ageing team about to lose their La Liga title dominance. The loss to Osasuna at home was a heavier blow on a rather tense situation.

I guess the nail on the proverbial coffin came in the form of Bayern. That team was filled up with world-beaters hungry for goals and a squeaky Barcelona defence with Quique Setién at the helm resulted in what ended up being Barcelona’s worst defeats in its illustrious history. I remember that night quite vividly, sitting there, hoping for something at the least. That 8–2 loss to Bayern changed the team and its image to me forever.

An image that needs no caption.

I feel like I tend to take a lot of things for granted when it comes to sport. I mean, most of us do so as well. We’ve come to admire our heroes from all of their best moments, and to see them at their worst can be damaging at times. I still remember the conversation I had with a friend of mine, who was a hardcore FCB fan. That defeat crushed me, but I still wonder how worse it was for him, having seen his team go from the best to being literal pushovers in the league. Setién got the axe and the atmosphere was tense for us Culés, having seen the images of a visibly crushed Messi.

Fast forward a month, Messi wants to leave the club and the President is still acting like a prick despite his obvious ill judgements in running this amazing club. COVID had left its mark and FCB was on the verge of disaster, on both the financial and the sporting fronts. It was a hard time to support FC Barcelona, and I was considering shifting clubs if Messi did. I mean, the only reason I even began rooting for Barça was because of one extremely gifted Lionel Messi.

Deep down, even I could see that the team relied on Messi to pull them out of the dumpster fire they were in and I almost came to terms with the idea of seeing Messi in a Man City shirt when a shocking interview saw Messi stay at the club despite being extremely unhappy and betrayed by Bartomeu, the club president. A new season was in front of us, new talent had been acquired from thin air and things were on the up for Barcelona’s transition year under Ronald Koeman, former Barça defender and coach of the Dutch National Team.

Squad numbers for FC Barcelona Senior Men’s Team for 2020/21.

The hardcore fans were a bit sceptical with his proposal of a new system moving away from the traditional 4–3–3 formation. At the start, I didn’t understand what the fuss was all about, but watching the first few games taught me the reason why the fans were sceptical. We were doing good in the league with two continuous wins on the trot despite difficult conditions and the mood was looking up. I was happy that our transition into a new era wasn’t as bad as I dreaded. Even I knew about AC Milan, former giants who never really transitioned into greatness until recent seasons.

There were bumps along the way as the season progressed, but I was still hopeful as it was really early on in the season. The bumps got bigger and bigger in La Liga with losses to the likes of Real Madrid, Getafe, Atlético Madrid and draw in must-win games. I was frustrated but hopeful thanks to the amazing performances in the Champions League. It always felt like Barca were right around the corner, but injuries and tactical mishaps kept us chained to the floor. Losing key players like Sergio Roberto, Pique, Ansu Fati and Dembele were hard to digest.

Ansu Fati is seen here getting treatment for his injury.

In reality, I was saving this article for the end of the year as it felt like a wise end to this rollercoaster ride as a new Barcelona fanatic. With sport, I was always extremely emotional with results early on in life. I take pride in following clubs like the Chennai Super Kings or FC Barcelona for the simple fact that it gave me a community in a time of hardship with the pandemic and other factors. So, why did I jump the gun and take you along for a 10 minute read, you ask?

Well, the answer to that lies in the last couple of matches where Barcelona lost to both Cadiz and Juventus. In both fixtures, I saw a team with very little desire and even lesser aggression. I saw a team that was low in confidence, a team unworthy of the shirt and a team in desperate need of miracles when no one could do it for them. I realize that I come off as really rude and inconsiderate but I would be lying to myself if I said otherwise.

These are times when the fact that I don’t have that much experience watching a team over the years haunt me about my thought process. Maybe its the frustration from the pandemic rearing its head or the fact that I saw another team of mine get crushed in their sport without any fight but it still feels miserable at the moment. After the recent loss to Juventus, I remember another good friend of mine told me that it’s natural for a team in transition. As much as I am inclined to believe his words, I still find it hard to get over the feeling I get when I watch them play so bad right after playing really well just a few days in the past.

Messi during his loss to Juventus 0–3.

I still believe in the team and their quality than can see them back in contention for the title. The only wish that I have is that it isn’t too little too late, for the team might lose its legendary icon in the coming summer. 2020 has been that kind of year, I suppose. It’s been an unruly tide of highs and lows and one can only hope for calmer oceans in the coming year.

Regardless of everything, a rather nice takeaway from all this is the fact that I don’t feel the same about the club anymore. I think I’ll stay on for the ride even after Messi leaves his childhood club, not because he retired, but because I fell in love with the club he does. Sure, I’ll rant and cry about it if he leaves, but my heart will still say, “Més Que un Club.”

Stay Safe, Wear a Mask and adopt a club perhaps,… might save you from the boredom of never leaving that couch of yours.

P.S: If you follow the club, you might point out the fact that I left out rather big chunks of our recent history concerning transfers and Bartomeu and Suarez. And,… you are right. I did, for the sake of everyone’s sanity and an extra 5 minutes of your time spent reading to a rant.