I do not know if he is chosen to appear in this part of the world or if, more simply and credibly, the idea was to start the series with the two great stars of Barcelona. The start with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez is of a very good conceptual wealth of manners; a basic, daily dialogue, drinking mate, which places two friends from the Río de la Plata as the starting point for Matchday, a documentary series made by the same Catalan club about the 2018-2019 campaign and which is available on Netflix.
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The presentation of characters advances during the eight chapters of the first season. Although each one has something general as a starting point –such as the classic rivalry with Real Madrid or the future of the Champions League–, in each episode there are reasons to show several players from a more human profile, something that generates a lot of closeness and empathy with the protagonists, most of the time distant beings only achievable on the PlayStation dolls.
Although this narrative form seems to be the most chosen when dealing with clubs or characters that lately in recent documentary series – which makes the result a bit repetitive – the resource of showing the general through the circumstantial, and vice versa, revalues the historical present giving it “greater” plausibility, removing (for a while) the resulting label that certain parties were like this – that is, won or lost – period.
Now that La Liga is back
Sometimes more, sometimes less, Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the best teams in the world. A Spanish football series could not ignore the most important classic in La Liga, beyond that it is counted from the Catalan side.
That game in which Suárez blew up the Camp Nou and the eternal rivalry of the clubs in the Copa del Rey are the initial triggers of the first chapters. Within the story there is a prominent character: the German Marc André Ter Stegen. As the goalkeepers manual sends, Ter Stegen will talk about loneliness and individualism, something for which that position on the field prepares them with a doctorate or master’s level. “There are 11 players, it is the task of the entire team, but you are the last,” he will say about the responsibility of his role on the court.
It is not spoiler: In 2019 the champion of the Champions League was English Liverpool. The series can serve to recall what happened that time and, above all, how it happened to Barcelona. Do you remember They will be interesting chapters, both in relation to English teams. The first thing to note is that they are not united: between a very good victory and a disappointing defeat it is decided to tell something else. Life itself. And the truth of coming back from the future: as what happened is already known, the reality of things will be deposited in minimal experiences.
It is good to take time to count the losses, beyond the fact that just the season chosen to film the series has been that of defeats against Liverpool – semi-final of the Champions League – and Valencia – final of the Copa del Rey. Two lost championships are a lot, but more for a team whose goal is to always win.
With regard to counting losses, there are more than a few seconds that the Barcelona documentary gives Liverpool in England when Anfield, that mythical stadium, sings his exciting “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Anyone could claim that song that precedes the English club matches, simply because it is a proven fact about the cultural significance it represents. But I don’t know if anyone would vindicate him when he has to say that he lost 4-0 that day and they gave him a semifinal of the Champions League that won 3-0. The one in the series is an act that resembles dignity, well-understood sportsmanship.
When it comes to counting losses, this series looks like Sunderland to death –Also available on Netflix–. Coincidence or not, soccer is much more than the realities that millions show and those that teach in the wet mud. The Sunderland series begins in a church and that of Barça almost ends with three priests suffering what God does not teach: anguish in the flesh. Stopping in faith is a common place in soccer. Something also customs, which everyone will read as they can or want while football reinvents itself again.
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