The party at Real Madrid's expense

This Monday, 45,000 tickets had already been sold for the second leg of the Women's Champions League quarter-finals to be played at the Camp Nou. The figure is spectacular considering that Barça thrashed Real Madrid 2-6 in the first leg and that the match is played in the middle of Easter week, but it is clear that the culé fans have taken the match as a celebration at the expense, of course, of Madrid.

The superiority of Pere Romeu's team is so overwhelming that on Sunday they were able to rotate, rest and measure their efforts and, even so, win 0-3 and deliver the definitive blow to the League, in which they already have no less than 13 points advantage four days before reaching the semi-finals of Europe. The only unknown is how many goals of difference they will win by, turning Real Madrid into a pushover, a toy in the hands of the blaugranes. That 45,000 people have already bought a ticket means that the pride they feel for a legendary team, a global benchmark for women's football, is immense and they are eager to thank them. But it is also a slap in the face to a Madrid that continues to not get close, no matter how much the media loudspeakers announce it, to the blaugrana level of excellence.

Neither the change of coach, nor the signings with a fat chequebook, nor the fanfare have been enough, and the evidence is so overwhelming that even the Madrid players seem like amateurs with their morale crushed, and every time they face Barça, the gap not only does not decrease, but it widens. In the last classic, for example, they didn't even shoot on goal. And to top it all off, everything indicates that they will have to endure the last humiliation of the season at a Camp Nou prepared for the festival.

The absolute merit belongs to a Barça that never tires of winning, that maintains its competitive spirit and raises it to the highest level, that has overcome significant setbacks such as the absence of Aitana Bonmatí or the three months of injury for Patri Guijarro, and that by looking to its academy due to the absence of signings has discovered gems like Clara Serrajordi. If, in addition, the fan factor is added, the communion, the identification between the stands and the team – while Real Madrid continues to play at the Sports City –, the thrashing, even before the match begins, is scandalous.