From the hallway to the hangover. From the tribute to the champion to a defeat in Vitoria. The one who needed it won, an Alavés with their back against the wall. And Barça lost, who had nothing at stake except statistical matters. Because the match at Mendizorroza meant the end of Barcelona’s streak after twelve consecutive wins and marked the first time they failed to score in the League since December 15, 2024. After 55 rounds of scoring, Flick’s team finished a match with zero goals. Losing also means that Barcelona can no longer reach one hundred points. But the lack of tension was logical and even predictable.

“We are looking for a number nine. Deco has done a fantastic job, I have full confidence in him,” Hansi Flick told TV3 after the Gamper that his team won against Al-Ahly from Egypt (2-1). “We know there are two players, like Robert (Lewandowski) and Ferran (Torres), who have left. We can cover Ferran’s role with the new signings (Adeyemi and Gordon) but replacing Robert is very difficult, because he marked an era with us. We have internal solutions, but we will surely make some move,” Deco replied.

Alfredo Relaño (1951) welcomes La Vanguardia in his home in Aravaca, a haven of peace amid the whirlwind of information in Madrid, an atmosphere that accompanies him in a pioneering professional life (Canal+), of ‘guerrillas’ (AS) and multimedia: he now collaborates with Cadena Cope, Marca, and El Mundo. “I am on the other side of the mirror,” he says. He has just published his new book ‘366 footballers’. And he is one of Florentino Pérez’s targets.