Barcelona centralism

Water or fire. Spain drowns in floods or burns in fires. In summer, the flames are heard as a metaphor for the national political pyre. The burning and murderous summer is voraciously added to the catalogue of misfortunes of a society at odds with itself to the brink of tearing itself apart and breaking up. A country damaged from the outside and poisoned from within, on the verge of liquidation by demolition if elections don't remedy it. Amidst the blackened landscape and the gloomy mood, the League has returned. May it be welcomed as a distraction, if not a remedy, for the ills that afflict us.

Despite renewing half the squad, Atleti doesn't seem ready to interfere with the ironclad Madrid-Barça two-party system (twice in the last 21 seasons). In this duality, a Barça with hardly any unnecessary changes awaits a Madrid with too many new additions to avoid being a mystery. They haven't recovered their best form since the departure of Kroos , the team's cornerstone and philosopher.

Some have taken his place, but no one has taken his place. In his doubts and urgencies, Xabi must be close to anguish because he knows perfectly well—he, a chef before becoming a monk—that the midfield is the keystone of a team. The most densely populated line, the one that touches the ball the most, the one that builds the most, the one that destroys the most. The design office and the engine room.

Since Kroos left and Modric aged before leaving in turn, Real Madrid's midfield has become a conceptual entity yet to be defined. A puzzle with numerous pieces to fit together, waiting for Bellingham, Valverde, Tchouaméni, Camavinga , and Alaba to discover their place in the world. A catch-all in the hope that Ceballos resembles his Betis counterpart, Güler grows, and Mastantuono is worth at least half of what they're saying in Argentina. Perhaps the sleek Huijsen should be moved from the center of defense, well covered by the energetic Militao, Rüdiger , and Asencio , and moved into midfield.

Madrid's midfield lineup, still in the testing and adaptation phase, barely stands up to comparison with Barça's well-oiled squad, with Pedri, Gavi, De Jong, Fermín, Casadó , and company. The Barça of differential midfielders is today, moreover, a centralized team favored by that shadowy amalgam of capital powers once dedicated to hampering Barça's success. A corrupting and liberticidal conspiracy that he always accused of favoring Real Madrid. What would Laporta say if, as a way of getting things going, Madrid's opponents were left with nine men in the 39th minute and punished with a questionable goal? He would cry out to the heavens of Montserrat.

Madrid is the one yelling these days. In its victimhood, more thunderous than whiny, it's raising its protests about the Miami match to UEFA, FIFA, and the CSD (Spanish Football Council). It's in tough territory. Especially with the CSD since the capital of Spain moved from Madrid to Waterloo, where the League of Unworthy Men is played behind closed doors.