After the party, a hangover for Barça
Following a glitzy gala to celebrate Barcelona's 125th anniversary on Friday, the team crashed to a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Las Palmas on Saturday
After the party came the hangover. Barcelona celebrated their 125th anniversary in a grandiose gala on Friday night at the city’s Teatre de Liceu, which was attended by illustrious figures from the club’s past while others sent video messages. The theme was one of positivity, looking back on past glories and forward in the hope and belief that the men’s team might be on track to repeat those triumphs following a strong start under Hansi Flick. But on Saturday, defeat at home to Las Palmas showed all of that might still be premature.
Sunday night’s gala kicked off with a tribute to the man who started it all: Joan Gamper. In front of images of 19th Century Barcelona projected on a large screen a the back of the stage, actor Pep Anton Muñoz played the role of the Swiss businessman and footballer who founded the Catalan club in 1899.
Muñoz, as Gamper, handed over to president Joan Laporta and the 62-year-old spoke passionately and impressively in Catalan – mixed with some Spanish and English – for around 40 minutes without any notes or prompts, rattling off the most significant moments in the history of the club and listing numerous key players along the way.
Holding back tears at several points in his address, Laporta called on those present to applaud Ronald Koeman, Xavi – who were both present – and Lionel Messi, three men he had forced out of the club during his current mandate. Koeman, he recalled, “led us to glory at Wembley” with the winning goals in Barça’s first European Cup in 1992. Xavi, he added, “won a Liga and a Supercopa and brought hope back in very difficult times” as coach. And Messi, he went on to say, was “the best player in the history of Barça, and the most decisive” of them all.
There were mentions for many other players along the way, tributes to some of the coaches, to the women’s team and to the current squad and Flick. And after video messages from the likes of Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Ronaldinho and more, plus a bizarre bit of playback singing from Pep Guardiola, a new Barça song chosen and a mascot unveiled, Laporta called on an array of former favourites from football and the club’s other sports sections to end the night on stage, toasting their victories and looking ahead to more success in the next 125 years.
By that point, the men’s first-team squad had been excused ahead of Saturday’s clash against Las Palmas. But Barça never really got going at Montjuïc and after a first half which saw plenty of possession but little precision, the second period did not go to plan at all as Las Palmas took the lead and tore up the script once again following Raphinha’s leveller by scoring a second.
This time, there was no response from Barça, despite eight minutes of added time. Perhaps the lack of atmosphere contributed: members of the animation stand have been banned, banished from the stadium after “failing to comply” with the terms of the agreement with the club. Without them, Montjuïc was quiet and at times, you could hear a baby’s cry or shouts on the pitch – even though there were over 43,000 fans inside the old Olympic Stadium.
Barça also missed Dani Olmo, who was rested due to a niggling fitness issue, and are coming to rely on Lamine Yamal, who was back from injury but had not trained and could not lift his team-mates after coming on for the second half. But none of that, nor the early kick-off nor the gala on Friday, should serve as an excuse for this off-colour display: FCB were not good enough and Flick admitted as much after the game. “We’re disappointed,” the German said. “We didn’t play well. It’s an issue with the whole team. We’re not scoring as many goals as we did before. We have to reconnect and come back.”
So is the optimism at Barça too much, too soon? This was a performance more reminiscent of Xavi’s side from last season and if Real Madrid beat Getafe at home on Sunday, Los Blancos will move to within a point of their fierce rivals at the top, with a game in hand. Considering Madrid’s poor form so far in 2024-25, that seems remarkable.
For Barça, it has still been a strong start, but one point from the last three LaLiga games has taken some of the shine off for Flick’s side and the German will hope this is merely a blip.
In Europe, the signs have been encouraging and the feeling of Barça being back on the biggest stage has brought renewed hope to the fans that a corner is being turned. Impressive results in the league phase will count for little, however, if they cannot be replicated in the knockout rounds.
And amid all this, the club’s financial situation remains extremely precarious. As so often in Barça’s history, La Masia is providing players of enormous quality for the first team and that is a huge positive, but one or two big signings will also be needed at some stage. Striker Robert Lewandowski had an off-day on Saturday and despite his impressive goals record, it is hard to know how much longer the 36-year-old has at this level. Replacing the Pole, whenever that is, will not be cheap.
“Barça make dreams come true,” Laporta said at the gala on Friday. But the hangover on Saturday showed that much work will lie ahead to turn those ambitions into reality.