At the Camp Nou

It’s always a joy being back at the Camp Nou to see a live match and Saturday’s Barca vs Valencia was the kind of event that makes it worthwhile.

There were close to 90,000 in the stadium which is quite a turn-out for this early stage in the season but then it was an important match. Barca has been floundering a little of late while los ches  , as the Valencia players are called,  have had an unbeaten  run of games, displaying a mixture of attacking football, creative midfield, and solid defence that makes them a formidable challenge for any top European  club.

The match was preceded by two days of football politics of a kind that only Barca can provide. First Barca’s previous president Laporta and his supporters hold a media event defending their record against allegations of waste which has left the club with a hugely successful trophy record but an uncomfortable debt. In the UK club presidents and their managers get bollocked if they waste money and then perform badly. But then this is Spain where Barca and Real Madrid fans want it all and where patience runs thin and where history counts for everything, and yet so much is so easily and so quickly forgotten.  Laporta lets us not forget, was elected president on a manifesto that promised transparency and accountability. His running mate was Sandro Rosell who brought Barca Ronaldinho instead of Beckham.

At the weekend, Laporta’s self-defence  was followed by an extraordinary meeting of  fans –actually a pool of representatives- to hear new president Rosell present his version of events based on a  due diligence report on the Laporta regime prepared by an international accountancy firm.

The report –or at least what was aired publicly- contained little more than what had already been widely reported in the Spanish media: that the club struck a bad bargain by paying over the odds over Ibrahimovic only to get rid of him after getting just over a season out of him; that Laporta conducted a secret spying campaign on some of his fellow directors; that some club executives had one too many unjustified expenses.

It all fell short of any allegation of financial impropriety, still less corruption, but it was enough for members to threaten to take Laporta to court for breach of ‘social contract’, an action which Laporta, a lawyer, plans to vigorously defend himself against.

The spectacle of a current president of Barca sticking the knife into his predecessor  and one-time close ally was hugely enjoyed in the executive offices of Real Madrid whose own faith in Mourinho’s ability to deliver at least one trophy this season increased with a convincing  victory over Malaga.

Prior to Saturday’s game at the Camp Nou, grounds men had laid new turf and lightly sprayed it with water to make it the perfect playing field for the home players.  Instead Barca was put up against the wall by Valencia for much of the first half, conceding a goal, and narrowly escaping a second thanks to a brilliant save by Valdes.

Barca’s free-flowing game was partly stifled in mid-field by Valencia’s high pressure tactics and quick counter-attack. Messi seemed awkwardly   ineffective playing a kind of hidden number 9 behind Villa with the first giving away the ball on far too many occasions, and the second unable to effectively penetrate his former colleagues at Valencia without being caught off-side or blocked by a defender.

At half-time, there was a distinct nervousness in the air with the frustration of Barca fans finding an escape in protesting the evident time-wasting of Cesar the former Real Madrid and now Valencia goalkeeper who played in outrageous  pink provoking some disgraceful  although relatively isolated homophobic chants.

Barca came out in the second half with the same players but a different attitude and game plan. Pep Guardiola had told them to up their game, and move around the pitch more. Valencia’s  match strategy suddenly seemed laboured, as Iniesta –the star of the match- went on the rampage before scoring an equaliser. Villa moved out onto the left flank, and Messi pushed up with increasing menace. It took the extraordinarily resilient captain Pujol to grab the second with a wonderfully precise header  having earlier bust a gut in defence with the increasingly impressive Busquets providing essential cover and Alves doing his usual darting runs and crosses down the right flank.

By then it was time for Guardiola to bring off Xavi-on the mend from  an injury-and bring  in Pedro-clearly recovered from his- and showing the kind of speed, ball control, and vision that made his such a revelation last season. By the end the Camp Nou had recovered some of its faith in a team that has been suffering from post-World Cup fatigue but which can still produce the most exciting football in the world. It would have been party mode had it not been for the likelihood of star-studded Real Madrid thrashing the underachieving Malaga, and taking pole position in La Primera Liga, just ahead of Barca. 

The most enduring image of the match? Guardiola losing his kool with the referee and gesticulating theatrically, Mourinho style. One thing is certain, we are gearing up to a potentially fascinating  Gran Classico.