2020 is finally at its end, and 2021 will certainly be a year of new beginnings for Culers. Most importantly, we at The Barcelona Podcast want to express our gratitude to all of you who have listened, watched, and read as we tried to navigate a year with more drama off the field than positive moments on it. We went through plenty of changes, but you’ve stuck by us and we always appreciate the entire community, whether on the website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Patreon, the YouTube channel, and especially the podcast. The pandemic meant a lot of personal changes for so many Culers, and somehow the club led the way in chaos. So without further ado, here are the things that I’ll remember most about supporting this club in 2020.
End of an era. After losing to Roma, change was needed. After Anfield, Ernesto Valverde should have been given his papers. But with the 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Culers were reminded that the issues at FC Barcelona went so much deeper than the manager. The vote of no confidence that forced the resignation of Josep Bartomeu was the actual end of the era and a new president and board will hopefully usher in a hope that Culers have not had for quite some time. For many reasons, including the increasing globalization of the club and the gargantuan amounts of money being thrown around by the largest clubs in the world, the finances off the field have taken center stage. Unfortunately 2021 doesn’t mean that Barcelona will start again with a clean slate, but it does mean that the issues will finally be addressed by a group of people that don’t need to validate the recent decisions that got the club into this mess. In a lesser “end of an era”, the club also moved on from Luis Suárez and Ivan Rakitic, two of the top 50 players to ever wear the crest.
Coaching Carousel. Ernesto Valverde was fired in 2020. Just wrap your head around that. From Valverde to Quique Setién to Ronald Koeman, the instability at the club was reflected in the manager’s chair. Barcelona won a grand total of zero trophies in 2020, and it’s hard to believe that Valverde sat in first place in the La Liga table to start the calendar year prior to his dismissal. Setién was given an impossible task, but never gained the confidence of the dressing room and proved himself to be unequipped for the job. He promised one thing, but the product on the field was something different. Koeman has made a bit of history in all the wrong ways to start his managerial tenure, but hopefully we can look back and say that he was the right man for the moment, even if it’s not a winning moment. His job is to guide the club through this transition year, and his puzzling tactics have the squad playing in a way that doesn’t yield results, even if it’s more “exciting” than Valverde. With the way his first few months in charge have gone, expect another new manager in 2021. That person, however, should be around for awhile.
More history for Lionel Messi. It was another year here on Earth for us humans, so it was more history for our favorite alien Messi. I guess he made history by trying to leave the club for the first time in his career in what felt like the biggest transfer saga in football history; if he had actually left. The emotional rollercoaster that were those three weeks of uncertainty is not something I’d like to relive, especially in the middle of a pandemic. Since he decided to stick around though, he did three more things that won’t soon be forgotten. It’s kind of cheating, but he scored a bunch of memorable goals that earned him his 7th Pichichi Trophy, and his 4th in a row. He also broke Pelé’s record for most goals scored for a single club, notching his 644th Barcelona goal this month. Santos is currently disputing it, but we all know history was made. This was the year that the sports world lost both Kobe Bryant and Diego Maradona, two revered athletes here at The Barcelona Podcast (Francesc is a Lakers fan remember), and Messi’s homage to Diego Maradona is another one of those images that are etched in our memories.
New blood arrives. For as terrible as results have been, this transition season has seen some positive signs, mostly in the form of teenage prodigies. Ansu Fati continued to set “youngest to” records almost every time he stepped on the field, and Pedri catapulted himself into the first team when he arrived over the summer from Las Palmas. 2020 could be looked back as the season when Fati and Pedri first took the field together and the two 18-year-olds began something special. Joining them was Sergiño Dest, who became the first American to play for FC Barcelona and also gave Culers some hope at the full-back position. Both he and Pedri are already shaping up to be signings that could help the club until 2030.
No matter what happens with trophies, 2021 will see these young talents continue their ascent into stardom under a new president. Things won’t change overnight, but hope is certainly on the horizon as Culers and FC Barcelona enter a new year. Most importantly, to all of you, Happy New Year!
Dan and Francesc, The Barcelona Podcast
