Camp Nou won't be ready in time

BarcelonaBarça is following the comeback playbook to the letter, which dictates that the first step is believing it's possible—since the final whistle at the Metropolitano, they haven't considered the tie lost—and the second is arriving with their star player, Lamine Yamal, in top form and with his spirits soaring after scoring his first hat trick and admitting he's put his melancholy behind him and is enjoying playing football again. If, on top of that, they add the recovery of Pedri, a key player for the team, as a third step, reaching the Copa del Rey final is difficult, but not impossible. After all, as Flick stated, it's a matter of scoring two goals in the first half and another two in the second. Quick, easy.

Any comeback playbook also assumes that the atmosphere in the stadium must be electric for the epic comeback to happen, that a kind of collective delirium has to take hold of the stands and infect the team in the difficult moments, when legs feel heavy or the opponent tries to get back into the game. Only 44,000 spectators will be allowed at Camp Nou, not the 62,000 the club promised. The blame, of course, lies with the City Council, never with them. And the strangest thing of all is that it's being accepted, or at least it doesn't seem to be hurting them. Joan Laporta stirs some macaroni, rides a mechanical bull, makes sausages in the stands, and Rafa Yuste talks about love and harmony, and hey, everyone's happy.

The lack of criticism regarding the repeated delays in the stadium's completion stands in stark contrast to the ferocity with which anyone who dares to voice concerns about wrongdoing is attacked on social media. Laporta's supporters are perfectly synchronized, acting as a pack and unleashing a barrage of insults and threats—mostly under pseudonyms—that have already led several journalists to abandon the public sphere. It's not that they prefer silence; they've been silenced. That was the objective, nothing else. Ultimately, the constant harassment and targeting encourage self-censorship. Someday, someone with the resources and the will should study the Laporta phenomenon on social media. Meanwhile, the team has delivered, but the club hasn't, and the stadium won't be ready in time for the comeback.