A Case of the February Blues, Football-Style

So I guess I’ll talk about football (“soccer” for North Americans, just to clarify).  While I’ve been in Canada with my family I’ve had little opportunity to watch matches, mostly because internet service, for being Canada a so-called “developed” country, is pretty shabby up here, especially on weekends.  My computer freezes with the weak internet, and I’ve only been able to watch the few games I’ve either been able to leave the house for, such as the November 29th clásico (the Spanish term for “derby”, especially in reference to the match-up between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivalry in the sport) and the last Champions League match in the round robin stage between Barcelona and Rubin Kazan.  So I regretfully haven’t been able to see much anymore.  Basically, I really only know what’s going on anymore because of Twitter and the sports press.

Thankfully, my team (Barcelona) has been having yet another brilliant season.  We’re five points ahead of the “eternal rivals”, Real Madrid, at the top of the league, and we’re still in the running for two other championships.  In April the King’s Cup final will be played against Real Madrid (the first time they’ve been in the final in 21 years…a match which was also a Barcelona-Madrid match up; the last two seasons they were eliminated by Second Division B sides in the first round), and the Round-of-16 in the European Champions League just kicked off this week.  It could be another treble for Barça, a repeat of the 2008-2009 season.

Since my house has been without internet for a little over a week now I really have no idea about what’s going on in the football world anymore, but given the fanbase of this sport, I can’t say I’m complaining too much.  To be honest, I’m thisclose to closing all my social media accounts and just saying “screw it” and only talk about the sport with my family, who doesn’t get caught up in the drama and the pithiness that seems to revolve around the (predominantly female) fanbase.  I need more guys to talk football with, really.  Anyway, for the last week and a half I’ve known nothing about what’s going on in the football world.  I’m actually okay with this.  For the last few matches I’ve been told the scores, like today’s loss to Arsenal in the final ten minutes, and Saturday’s draw against Sporting Gijón, ending our 16-match winning streak (a Liga record; and we finally got a result other than a win away).

Now, I have no idea what other Barcelona fans are saying.  I’m not connected right now as I type this, so my opinions are solely my own and “unpolluted” so to speak.  But here are my thoughts on both of these results for those who care to read them.

1. The draw against Sporting.  It was not a loss.  We still only have one of those in the league, so as far as anyone’s concerned, we still haven’t lost.  Sure, we may have lost two points in the last ten minutes (yeah, I know when the goals were scored; my dad has ESPN SportsCenter on his phone, which can still access the internet).  But we are still five points ahead of Real Madrid.  It will still take them a while to catch up, we still have pretty far to fall.  I really hope people aren’t really upset about this.  I don’t even care that it was against Sporting who’s facing relegation.  That matters squat to me.  This is a Barcelona side that has been conditioned to treat every rival like it’s Real Madrid, and it’s generally worked.  Besides, in the Spanish league, it’s the sides in the relegation zone that tend to give us more trouble than those mid-table or even at the top of the table.  I mean, if it’s easier for us to beat Real Madrid than Sporting Gijón (we only beat them 0-1 in the first half of the season), then clearly it’s not as much us as it is the lower-table teams trying to get a few points out of us.  I can’t say I blame them (though sometimes I wish they’d try harder against Real Madrid, but that’s an entirely different issue).  Besides, I’d rather focus on this weekend’s match against Athletic Bilbao, because they’re always a tough opponent (and they’re my second team, so make of that what you will…).

2. The loss against Arsenal.  This is close to what you could call a “European classic”, as a Barcelona-Arsenal matchup seems to happen pretty frequently in international competition.  And Barcelona did eliminate them last year in the quarterfinals, so y’know, they’re probably out for blood.  Oh, and there’s the whole Cesc thing too, and how Barcelona’s been trying to get him back for the past three seasons at least (after the 2007-08 season rumor had it that Joan Laporta was orchestrating a Xavi-Cesc trade that, thank God, never went through).  So Arsenal really isn’t too happy with Barcelona right now, and since the match was played at the Emirates, well, can’t say I’m too surprised or shocked at the result.  Is it detrimental to Barcelona?  Yes.  Losses are never fun.  However, in a knock-out round like this, there are two matches to play, and in the end the side who scores the most goals wins.  And the next match will be held at Camp Nou.  Anyone remember the last time Arsenal played Barcelona at Camp Nou?  Does 4-1, with all four of those goals being scored by a certain Leo Messi ring a bell?  And that was after a rather shocking, frustrating draw at the Emirates after Barcelona led 0-2 in the first half.  So y’know.  Anything can still happen, especially at Camp Nou.  So let’s not get our panties in a twist over something like this, when a 1-2 result can easily be overturned.

I should also point out that it’s also February, and for the last two seasons, February’s been a bit of a slow month for Barcelona, a month filled with ruts and holes.  In the 2008-09 season, we lost in the Barcelona derby against Espanyol at home 2-3, and then at the Vicente Calderón in Madrid to an empowered Atlético 4-3 after winning 3-0 in the first half.  Then there was the 1-1 against Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League which we almost didn’t get out of, plus a draw against Betis in the Liga.   Not to mention the near-loss against Mallorca in the Copa del Rey (which José Manuel Pinto managed to save us from), nearly making us miss our chance at a final against Athletic in the final.  And last year, our only loss also came at the hands of Atleti in February…and as far as I can recall the Champions League wasn’t that gracious to us either at that time.  It’s just a bad month for FC Barcelona.  We’ll get over it.  For a week and a half to two weeks around Valentine’s Day, things don’t seem to work out for Barcelona.  I don’t know if it’s the wise Pep Guardiola pulling one of his classic “We’re just humans and anything can happen” moves and has this all planned, or if it’s just that the guys are overworked and are suffering from “February-it is”, just like the rest of us who want winter to be over and spring to come.  Who knows.  But I’m not “cliffing” myself or whining about how bad we are or even how we’re going to lose everything once we’ve managed to come out ahead.  Fatalism isn’t for me.  I may be a pessimist at heart, but even my pessimism has an optimism, and honestly, football’s just a sport.

Or maybe it’s not.  But either way, this is one period of the season I’m glad to be missing.  I missed it last season because of readings and essays that needed to be done as well as the Winter Olympics, and this season I’m missing it because of internet issues.  When it’s all over, we’ll all just say “Well, that was close!” and watch as things start to look up again.  But just because I feel like rubbing some salt on some very fresh wounds, just remember, what goes up must come down.  Eventually.  At least that’s what I think every time Barcelona draws or loses a match it should have won.  It’ll help the future not hurt so bad when it arrives.