eyewitness
have imagined what unfolded over the
next few days – and how fast.
Standing there at the side of the pitch
in Jeddah, every time Valverde appeared
on the giant screen, Saudi fans booed
him. But if he didn’t much like what he
heard, he was enjoying what he saw.
With nine minutes left against Atletico
Madrid, Barca were leading 2-1 and only
the VAR meant that it wasn’t more. Anoffside barely the width of Arturo Vidal’s
mohican saw one goal ruled out, another
was taken away when Lionel Messi was
judged to have handled. When Vidal got
taken out by Saul in the area, nothing
happened. It could have been three or
four or more. They were playing better
than they had all season.
Atletico were “practically dead”, Messi
said afterwards. And then it happened.
Another collapse to remind them of
Liverpool and Rome. Atletico weren’t
dead after all.
“It was very strange,” Angel Correa
said. Atleti coach Diego Simeone added:
“Their second disallowed goal was key.”
Whatever it was, Barcelona fell apart.
Suddenly they were wide open, with
massive gaps right through the middle,
entirely exposed. And Atletico punished
them. On 82 minutes they made it 2-2.
On 87 it was 3-2. Then Marcos Llorenteran through and almost scored Atletico’s
fourth. Meanwhile, Gerard Pique got away
with a handball inside his area.
The capitulation was complete. At
the final whistle, Messi walked away
in silence. Atletico fans celebrated –
there were about 12 of them. One Saudi
supporter stood, holding a piece of card
on which he’d written: “Valverde out.”
Which was exactly what was about
to happen.
“Managers are always subject to
instability,” Valverde said. But surely he
wasn’t about to be sacked? Not for what
happened in the Super Cup, the least
important competition of all, however
much it had been taken 6,000km away?
In fact, that was partly why it was taken
away. It was something they could sell
and just about get away with it. There
were many reasons not to go. There were
many reasons to go too: one hundredHope...Quique SetienToo soon...XaviPressure...Sergi Roberto tries to clear