Barça loses the pedal stroke, by Santiago Segurola

It is common for football celebrations to be carried by the devil. This is attested to by Barça’s skid against Las Palmas, the second defeat in the last three games, this time in Montjuïc, where the team seemed invulnerable. The consequences are serious. His leadership is in serious danger.

Real Madrid, which is four points behind, has played two fewer games, today’s game against Getafe and the postponed visit to Mestalla due to the storm that devastated València. In accounting terms, Barça has wasted its victory at the Bernabéu, the 0-4 that caused more than just concern in its great adversary.

Madrid has not emerged from the crisis, but Barça insists on throwing it a lifeline

The twists and turns of football are curious: Madrid has not emerged from the crisis, and even accentuated it five days ago at Anfield, but Barça has insisted on throwing it a lifeline. He plays worse and his rivals find ways to punish him. Real Sociedad beat them in Anoeta, Celta deserved more than the draw in Balaídos and Las Palmas can boast of their victory in Montjuïc with all fairness.

Something is clear in this sequence and it is not related to the decline in Barça’s performance: the Spanish League has less commercial brilliance than the English one, but it is probably more diverse, complex and difficult to manage. It is the reason that explains the impressive efficiency of our teams in the Europa League, the competition that highlights the category of what could be called football’s middle class.

Las Palmas’ immediate aspirations do not include reaching a place in the next Europa League. Theirs is to survive in the First Division. Forced by the negative results, he changed coaches two months ago. Now it is directed by Diego Martínez, who has achieved an impeccable mix. The Canarian team has increased the vigor and discipline in its game, without losing its identity as a tasty team, always friendly with the ball.

Barça suffered in the first half, unable to control the match. The line of midfielders did not work for him. Gavi was among the headlines, but he is still out of luck. You don’t come back from a cruciate ligament injury and a year of absence without going through difficulties in readaptation. Fermín launched himself into too many individual adventures and Pedri, by far the best of the three and perhaps of the team, suffered from loneliness, as in boleros.

Less than 15 hours after leaving the gala held at the Liceu, the players exchanged their cheerful formality for the harshness of a match that started badly for Barça and ended worse. Very soon all eyes were directed to the substitutes’ bench, in search of Lamine Yamal.

Apart from Raphinha’s sharp interventions, the attack did not work. Nor did the defensive system offer the usual guarantees. Moleiro, representative par excellence of the great Canarian school, and Sandro, reborn as a footballer, caused serious damage to the Barça defense, accompanied from midfield by the tireless Javi Muñoz, who attacked and arrived from the second line, the type of player that Barça’s rivals will use by decree to deactivate offsides.

Lamine came on in the second half, but Sandro scored and Barça’s problems multiplied. Fort, De Jong and Ferran Torres then appeared, without any special impact on the match, to a certain extent managed by Las Palmas, who did not blame Raphinha’s goal, responded with a great goal from Fabio Silva and left the match with a master in the creative use of time, authorized by a consenting referee.

Two defeats and a draw later, Barça has abandoned scarcity, so magnificently managed by Flick, for something resembling abundance. It is a Barça with a long squad that, however, has lost the pedal stroke in the League.