FC Barcelona: How a team is created in the midst of chaos

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Jordi Alba (2nd from left) celebrates a goal for Barcelona with Antoine Griezmann (No. 7) and other teammates

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JORGE GUERRERO / AFP

For Christmas Antoine Griezmann gave all teammates, including those of the second team, a backpack with the initials of the respective player.

It would be an exaggeration to declare this detail to be the big bang of a new era at FC Barcelona.

But not only because they were French luxury products, the noble gifts stand for an astonishing development: At Barça something grows together in the middle of a hurricane.

For three months without a president, over a billion in debt, currently no salary payments, leaked strategy papers and constant fuss about Lionel Messi, most recently with the publication of his monster contract?

"The cabin door is armored," says midfield engine Frenkie de Jong: "What happens outside does not harm us."

After a clear upward trend in the league, his team provided the best evidence for the time being at the cup quarter-finals in Granada.

It was a crazy game: Barça dominated right from the start, but conceded two goals with the only counter-attacks from the defensive Europa League participant.

At the beginning of stoppage time there were 27 shots on goal, 15-0 corners, 78 percent possession, two crossbars and one post, but it wasn't until the 88th minute that Griezmann had even scored the next goal.

Then he received another cross from Messi, but this time he put back on the nominal left-back Jordi Alba, who headed to 2-2.

Barcelona's radio commentators screamed the gate into the silent night of curfew like none since Sergi Roberto's legendary 6-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain.

Barça have long played with a four-man midfield and a five-man storm, and in extra time they did not let themselves be irritated by a controversial penalty for Granada and ultimately triumphed 5: 3.

In the end, Alba volley threw a back pass from Griezmann under the crossbar, like on the Playstation, and Messi wasn't even involved.

The club-related »Sport« solemnly summed up: »Barça's fans have not been so proud for a long time."

One word was particularly frequent among those responsible: "turning point".

Ronald Koeman used it, the coach who managed all the hardships of the last few months - plus the usual: injury plague, referee annoyance, pure bad luck - so admirably objectively.

“That can be the moment when a team begins to believe,” Koeman said.

"A turning point, for sure," said Alba too.

“We needed this. We stand together.

We are: una piña. «This is literally a pineapple.

In other words: Nothing can separate us.

Team sports timeless truths ignored

Emotions and unimagined heroes, fragility, but also overcoming it: what a difference not only to the funeral procession of the 2: 8 against FC Bayern in the summer, but also to the past few years in general.

Although titles were won, the fun was reserved for Messi, his buddies Luis Suárez and previously Neymar (2017) as well as the factotum Gerard Piqué in a hierarchically structured team.

And at the crucial moment of the Champions League there was nothing left of it anyway.

In all that time an icy cold wind blew through the team analysis.

If it wasn't enough again, the quality of the players was to blame: So people bought and bought what is the cause of today's mountain of debt.

The timeless truths of team sport, on the other hand, have been ignored.

In the rotten schoolboy atmosphere, even the best newcomers quickly lost self-confidence and the joy of playing.

They are now being brought back by youngsters such as the 18-year-old all-round talent Pedri or the home grown Riqui Puig.

But first and foremost from someone like Griezmann.

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Antoine Griezmann (r.): Return of self-confidence and joy of playing

Photo: Pepe Torres / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

Trained at his ex-club Atlético Madrid in the unconditional team cult of coach Diego Simeone, he had to recognize the vacuum in Barcelona like no other.

After the departure of premium Praetorian Suarez and with the authority of improved performances, he joined this team this season - and takes captain Messi the ambassador jobs that are so difficult for him.

It was Griezmann who shook up after the low point of 3-0 in the Champions League against Juventus Turin: "We're missing everything." And it was also Griezmann who repeatedly asked for more communication on the pitch.

The Frenchman was able to celebrate his best evening in the Barça jersey not only because of two goals and two assists.

He also succeeded as a team builder.

Even his compatriot Ousmane Dembélé, who had been indifferent for a long time, like Griezmann and De Jong recently with a spectacular increase in form, got upset with the referee.

All for one, and even one for all: Messi happily sank into the crowd after the 2-2 draw and swore the team to extra time during the break.

Di Maria fuels rumors of Messi joining PSG

Such gestures are always studied with him, especially in these days of polemics after the publication of his record salary.

For now, it's not just the fans in Barcelona who have sided with him, especially since they were more open than ever to getting the income from him.

Messi himself also showed a positive defiant reaction with committed games.

The only problem for Barça is that, although he doesn't say anything himself, people talk about him all the more.

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Lionel Messi: positive reaction of defiance

Photo: JON NAZCA / REUTERS

While extra time was just beginning in Granada, after the league game against Nîmes in Paris, an old Messi speci from the Argentine national team, Ángel Di María, said there was a “good chance” that Messi would play with him next season.

The sentence landed immediately in Andalusia, where Koeman quarreled after the final whistle: "It is disrespectful that so many PSG people talk about Messi." In the past few weeks, Neymar and Paris manager Leonardo, among others, had made similar statements Barça's presidential election favorite Joan Laporta prompted a fundamental criticism: "You show little class and still have a lot to learn."

You'll see each other again in the Champions League in just under two weeks.

In addition to the already explosive history (6: 1, Neymar, a generally miserable relationship between the two clubs), there is now the subject of the topics: Messi against his new club?

The Argentine said over Christmas that he would decide after the end of the season.

In the meantime, speculation can continue in all directions.

After his martyrdom last summer, does he just fit in so harmoniously with Barça just because he knows that it will soon be over?

FC Barcelona remains a construction site, even after the epic evening in Granada.

But whether with or even without Messi: the restored magnificent building can be better guessed.

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