A 'manita' for the blue and claret to say goodbye to Mestalla

BarcelonaFireworks to say goodbye to Mestalla (0-5). Barça, which has put all its repertoire of offensive tricks on the table, has thrashed Valencia in a match in which it was favored by the calamitous state of an opponent that, normally, used to make things difficult. Now it lives through an internal civil war that is bleeding it dry, with fans fed up with a management that is sinking them. If Barça lives relatively happily, Valencia does not. And the match, which could be Barça's last at Mestalla pending a possible duel in the Cup, has highlighted this reality. In fact, attacking as it has done today, Barça would also have won at the Mestalla of before, the one where all opponents suffered greatly. Barça scored five goals and did not even need to play at 100% during the second half.

In 25 minutes, Barça had already scored two goals and a third was narrowly disallowed. A comfortable triumph in a beautiful stadium, one of those from the past, where you can breathe football and where new idols, like Lamine Yamal, do their thing in the same physical space where Samitier, Puchades, Cruyff, Kempes, Fernando, and Messi had already scored. A stadium condemned to be demolished, since Valencia also considers that it needs a new venue with many spaces for VIPs. It will be a stadium without the soul of Mestalla, a pitch where Lamine Yamal did whatever he wanted today with two goals.

But Barça could not get sentimental. It was necessary to take advantage of Madrid's stumble to keep moving forward and consolidate their position at the top of the table as early as the first few matchdays. With the transfer market closed, Flick knows which cards he has to play. Julián Álvarez is a prisoner in Madrid and his name is fading from the memory of the barcelonistas, who for the moment are little worried about their team's offensive capacity. While waiting to see what a testimonial Gabriel Jesus can contribute in Valencia, the champion strikes its rivals hard and leaves them stunned. Even though they always play with fire in defense, forcing Joan Garcia to be very attentive, Barça wins matches by devouring the morale of their rivals, who usually end up chasing ghosts, praying not to be thrashed.

Flick gave Rodri his first start, one of those players with such poise and elegance that he seems capable of stopping time whenever he wants. The man from Madrid played a good game, despite an error before the break that nearly ended in a home goal. When he looked up, Rodri saw a white wall, as Valencia had come out with a five-man defense. But he also saw a bunch of teammates moving up and down electrically. Lamine Yamal, who had not trained the day before, showed himself to be especially sharp. Playing a lot through the middle, behind Raphinha, he had a great time with Fermín. Between the two of them, they deepened the wound of a Valencia side playing under the inquisitorial gaze of its fans. The most radical ones, angry with the board, didn't even enter Mestalla. And the other members spent a good part of the match more focused on the presidential box, where president Kiat Lim was, whom they shouted everything at. The management of the Lims, millionaires from Singapore, is right now a good example of everything you should not do if you buy a football club.

And Barça, in part, benefited from this strange atmosphere, especially after the first goal, a give-and-go between Lamine Yamal and Fermín in which the player from Maresme wanted to leave his name in the golden book of Mestalla with a great chip. Five minutes later, he had already scored the second, but the VAR detected an offside of those that are hard to see. The Valencia fans did not celebrate the referee's decision much, aware that it surely only prolonged the agony. And so it was, as shortly after Fermín López culminated a good team play by Barça to make it 0-2. Every Blaugrana attack seemed destined to be a goal, especially a brilliant play by Gordon, who got rid of three rivals with elegance, only to see his shot hit the post after being touched by Dimitrievski.

Neither the heat, which was suffocating the players, nor Danjuma's vertical runs have distracted a Barça that did not even need to offer its best version to make a statement. Nor has the injury to Eric Garcia affected them, who left the pitch with his face full of blood after colliding with Rodri inside the rival area. Kounde, his substitute, understood what he had to do on the right, while Xavi Espart continues to demand a place by playing everywhere. A full-back with the soul of a midfielder in a Barça where position swaps are a constant. Now Gordon falls to the right, now you find him on the other side. Raphinha, more or less the same. A praise of movement, an ambitious, seductive team, which could have scored many more goals before halftime.

A clever Barça, which understood that it was necessary to settle the match quickly to turn it into a mere formality without much history. And not tire the legs. Said and done. Raphinha scored the 0-3, a fact that ended the little resistance of a Valencia looking like it is facing a season in which it will suffer greatly again. With everything settled, the changes arrived and the debut of a Gabriel Jesus who has already understood that it will be difficult for him to be a starter in a Barça that did what it wanted with an opponent turned into a toy. Pedri and Lamine Yamal took advantage of it to turn the last visit to Mestalla into one of the most remembered. A handful of farewell.