Barça live in a bubble of euphoria (1-6)

BarcelonaEuphoria has taken hold of Barça. The same team that not so long ago walked the pitch with their heads down, hiding from the inquisitive stares of others, now come out to play defiantly, ready to shatter opponents with goals that carry a whiff of by-gone eras. Winning away from home has now become routine for Koeman's side, who continue to chase an Atletico Madrid side that seems a wounded animal. Simeone's side struggled immensely to beat Alavés. Barça, on the other hand, look younger and younger, more energetic, almost like one of those friends who never wants to go home. When others are already making their way to bed after a long night partying, he keeps on dancing. In San Sebastian, triumph was never in doubt. Not even when Ter Stegen had to make two fine saves. The win in San Sebastian makes twelve wins in the last thirteen games. The pursuit of the leader continues (1-6).

Once you taste the victory, you can get drunk. And this Barça wants to go from party to party and extend a slightly unreal state of euphoria, as the team has been eliminated from the Champions League and is still behind in La Liga. But it helps when things go your way. It's about letting go now that luck is smiling on you, when not so long ago it turned his back on Koeman's team. In San Sebastian there were so many reasons to celebrate that it didn't matter what Atletico's result was. It was necessary to celebrate Koeman, Jordi Alba and Griezmann's birthday. And, incidentally, to put the icing on the cake, Messi became the player who has played most games with the first team. The Argentine, of course, wanted to celebrate with two goals and assists. And with a smile from ear to ear that encourages Barcelonistas. If Laporta is able to make him stay and the Argentine enjoys himself during the game, the possibility of a happy ending seems closer and closer.

The Barça that needed penalties to defeat Real Sociedad in the semi-finals of the Supercopa seemed like a totally different team from the one that finished the job before halftime. Tragedy and comedy. The yin and the yang. One was unstable, soft and sad. The other is confident of winning two titles. It has found the balance, both tactical, with a three-man defense, and psychological. Everything seems to have found its order in spite of its unbalanced player roster, without full-backs or centre forwards. Stability has also arrived at the box, since the game in San Sebastian was the first since last October with an elected president, voted in by the members. Koeman, for the third game in a row, did not change the team. And this stability allowed players like Sergiño Dest, who has become a two-goal winger, to grow and strengthened Griezmann's self-esteem, who scored the most important goal, the one that opened the scoring after a fairly even start in which Real Sociedad put up a fight with their vertical attacks. But touching the ball carefully, as if they were jugglers, Busquets, Messi and Alba found the necessary spaces to allow Griezmann, after a rebound from Remiro, to score the first goal. The second was not long in coming, with Messi setting up the American Dest.

This is Messi's new role, becoming the protective figure for a new batch of youngsters, such as the ubiquitous Pedri, Mingueza, Moriba and Dest. Real Sociedad, with a lot of players unavailable, knew that their fate had been decided. And the second half was pretty straightforward once Koeman's team, in two whiplashes, scored two more goals. A second from Dest and another from Messi, who touched the ball with the same delicacy with which you pamper the hair of the person you love. The job was done, even though Dembélé didn't stop until he scored his goal, to ward off the ghosts of his mistakes in Paris. One of the most complicated trips had turned into a party to celebrate birthdays, the good run of results and Messi's milestones, who finished it all off with a beautiful last goal, after a collective play in which he was surrounded by youngsters with a lot of future. Spring has come to Barça.

Koeman, in fact, could rest a few players to give younger players some playing time before the international break in which he will be able to talk calmly with Laporta and speak of the future. The present does not look bad, so far. Playing like this, the League is more alive than ever. And Barça is no longer going against the grain. On the contrary.