Learning from loss - lessons from fall of FCB

[#1]

I started watching football in the golden era of Brazilian football

Initially, I would watch any and all matches I could and picked my favorites in them.. be it EPL (Manchester United), Bundesliga (Bayern), Ligue 1 (PSG), Seria A (AC milan) or International (no doubt, Brazil).. but then it all changed when I decided to pledge my allegiance and invest in Spanish football - La Liga and chose Barcelona as my 'home' team.

Years down the road, as any fan would I have screamed when Barça won the gold, got teary when Iniesta left the club and got angry anytime anyone would tackle Messi.

The reason, I am telling you these things is to make you understand how much I and many of my friends have invested in the team and how devastated we were after the loss.

Right now, the club is in a bad place.. We lost 8-2 to Bayern in the quarter finals, who went on to win the championship.

 Its important to highlight here, that how important Coutinho was in the match, who originally is a Barca player on loan to Bayern. He scored two goals and did an assist. It shows how much it can hurt an organization if you don't value your good resources and let them go.

We hadn't won the Champions league in 5 years and it got to a point where Pique commented that the club has hit 'rock bottom' after the loss. This is for a team which used to complete trebles (winning 3 championships in an year) for fun.

The loss to Bayern was our worst in last 80 years.

But I know that, falling down is part of riding the wave to the top.. and just like any other organization, its time for restructuring. The manager Setien has been sacked, Messi- our star player might leave, New players like Trincao and others are coming in and the management might change too.. There are so many things which are uncertain right now.

..but its all for the club. For the brand. For the people.. and finally, for the love of the game.

Legends fall and new ones are made but all things takes time. It will need a lot of hardwork from the players and support staff to rebuild the legacy.. but isn't that the only way?

When you hit rock bottom, the only way is up.

Gives me hope that Barca will return to glory soon.

(Note- I do watch Indian football and support Kerala Blasters and Bengaluru FC)

[Mohamed Benziane]

Milan AC play in Serie A not Ligue 1 (Lyon, PSG, OM...)

Great article !

[Jan-Peter Rusch]

Great article!

At first I thought with FCB you ment the real FCB: FC Bayern München...

SCNR

JP

[Steve Rhodes]

I think every person who follows a team that isnt the winner (and thats 99.9%) wants their team to rise to the top. But if your team is always in the top 2 and wins things every season you should surely be happy with that.

I don't think you'll get much sympathy from other supporters when you choose to support one of the world's best teams, and sometimes you have to be happy with what you have. The fact that they win La Liga every other year, they win the Copa del Rey (and have been in the final 9 of the last 10 years). They have been in the top 3 of the league every year since 2003 also.

You could have chosen to support the other team from Barcelona, which is Espanyol. Then you would know what a rollercoaster ride of emotion it is. They got relegated this year to Segunda Liga.

[RAKSoft-CH]

I don't want to offend you, but I'd like to invite you to re-read what you've written as if you were a supporter of another team and that post were written by somebody else...

You might find that some statements sound rather arrogant, e.g. the sentence "We hadn't won the Champions league in 5 years...": well, there are clubs that have NEVER won the Champions League (most of those who participate in the competition actually) or haven't even reached the quarter nor the semi finals. I assume that most of them have been working at least as hard as Barcelona, if not more.

But not every club has the budget to hire that many talented and expensive players (on a side-note we could start a discussion about the "financial fairplay", especially looking at Barcelona and Real Madrid, two clubs in a country that has some "economic issues" and that sometimes seem to throw around money as if they print it themselves...).

The club is in a bad place? Again, many, many clubs would love to be in such a "bad place"...

Then you mention Coutinho: well, the game is (fortunately) still played by humans and sometimes a job or a company just doesn't fit the employe and then it's time to look for another place or a new club in this case. And if you ever played football (or soccer, as it's called in some countries) and have changed to play for a new club and then had to play against your former team, you'll know that this represents a special kind of motivation.

Again, no offense intended, but your post called for a different point of view.

[Sajit Nair _Trundl_]

@Mohamed Benziane- typo. Thanks mate. Fixed it.
@Jan-Peter Rusch  - :D
@RAKSoft-CH, @Steve Rhodes - I understand your perspective folks.. but i would want you to understand that in a country where Football isnt 'the great game', the little exposure we get is through these big clubs. Yes, with the advent of internet, its all global now, and i know a lot of young folks who support Espanyol, Valencia, Getafe and Sevilla etc.. but my allegiance had already been cemented.

You misunderstand a 'learning from loss' article to a 'club fanatics' rant. I acknowledge your inputs but would ask you to look it from a different lens. :)
Cheers.