Culér by day, madridista by night

The market hasn't officially kicked off yet, but we've already seen the first summer trend: footballers who one day dreamed of playing for Barça and the next day sign for Real Madrid. Yes, José Mourinho, the antichrist of the pointed finger and insatiable provocations, is capable of convincing children forged in the Barça academy or Portuguese players perfected under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola without any resistance. With his rhetoric and, above all, with a good bag of money from the wounded Florentino Pérez, he works magic with a single call. Between the persistent little song of Bernardo Silva or the return of Marc Cucurella, however, what will hurt Barça the most will be seeing the full-back from Alella dressed in white. It's easy to ask yourself: “How did we let this happen?” The answer is simple: neither now nor ever has he felt that Barça truly wanted him.

The mistake of letting Cucurella go is monumental and has a very specific origin: when, under Josep Maria Bartomeu, money was wasted on mediocre signings instead of trusting the youth academy. When the full-back was starting to shine, he had Lucas Digne ahead of him as an alternative to Jordi Alba. And when they transferred the Frenchman, in the summer of 2018, Ernesto Valverde's clinical eye preferred Juan Miranda, whom no one remembers now. Then, Cucu began his journey away from Camp Nou and, as he grew, he saw Barça incorporate players like Junior Firpo. Deep down, he always had the desire to return home, but the passage of time made him face reality with high doses of realism. The current Barça scenario was also utopian, and Madrid, on the other hand, was tangible. There was no need to keep banging his head against the wall waiting for a miracle.

Being the most Barcelonista of all is not very useful, no matter what your name is. We have the definitive proof in the tears of Leo Messi, which we relive when we see him shine at the World Cup about to turn 39. The painful nostalgia teleports us to unrepeatable happy moments.Leo Messi's tears, which we relive when we see him shine at the World Cup about to turn 39. The painful nostalgia teleports us to unrepeatable happy moments.Nostalgia, painful, teleports us to unrepeatable happy moments.