2023-12-20 21:21:50
Philippe Coutinho granny his fuck in the eyes of the culés, a night in which he put his fingers in his ears to pretend that he was turning a deaf ear to the whistles. He had just scored a great goal against Manchester United in the Champions League. He was later applauded when he was substituted, with the score at 3-0 that gave off happiness. It was April 19, 2019, the date that refers to the quarterfinals of the European competition.
Coutinho did not score any more goals, and at the end of the season he was loaned to Bayern so that Barça would not let go of what was then the most expensive investment in history. He returned in 2020, played for half a year and left permanently amid general indifference. That night Sergi Roberto was on the field.
Just attention
Raphinha put his fingers in his ears as his compatriot did this December night. A goal born from a rebound from the goalkeeper after a header from Araujo in a corner. Nothing brilliant, just an exercise in attention. Almería, the outstanding bottom of the League. The score was 1-0 around the half-hour mark, an advantage that did not last long.
Raphinha cost 55 million and that gesture between protest and demand became irritating. Seven minutes later Baptistao equalized. The whistles returned. Until then they had dedicated themselves to a couple of long possessions by Almería, innocuous, but which Barça did not know how to shorten with the pressure; From then on, the fans’ looks became more severe. Tonight Sergi Roberto was still on the field. Given the gestures of his teammates, he did a good job with his two goals.
Nothing to claim
The Brazilian winger had nothing to claim or anything to protest about. It was his third goal in the League. Since September 26 in Mallorca. The culés have only been able to applaud the goal against Betis in Montjuïc on matchday five. There were many fewer in the stands. Since that September afternoon, on the ascent towards the mountain 10,584 pilgrims have disappeared of the 45,055 who enjoyed that apotheosis (5-0).
Barça has stopped scoring goals. He barely wins. And, in the decline, Almería accentuated the drop in spectators. Atlético, in the last match, had established the worst attendance (34,568 people) and Almería reduced it to 34,471.
Generous puffy
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The vindictive Raphinha left applauded among other reasons, because he was replaced by Lamine Yamal, the team’s kid. He briefly applauded the crowd. The generosity of the fans was proven with the applause that Oriol Romeu received, whose mistakes have been more visible and costlier (two goals from Antwerp, for example) and the brief chants of encouragement from Iñaki Peña after failing to make it 2-2.
More than gestures, Barça needs silent actions. That’s what Sergi Roberto knows after a decade in the squad. He was the starter again, the first captain due to the absences of Pedri and De Jong. Sergi Roberto protested nothing, Sergi Roberto claimed nothing, loaded with reasons to magnify his figure in front of the stands with the two goals that saved Barça, Xavi and Raphinha. The relieving close of the year whose end the team, completely exhausted, was crying out for.
#counterchronicle #BarçaAlmería #Coutinho #Raphinha