The Dream

Barcelona, Friday April 27.

I went to bed on Thursday night with the rumors of Pep Guardiola's imminent departure from the club very fresh in my mind. On Friday he was to give a lunch time press conference and share his plans. I laid down my head and had a dream.

**

I was in Spain, at the Camp Nou which was smaller, carved of stone blocks and placed next to the sea. People were assembled there to attend the press conference for Pep to discuss his future as coach. 

Pep walked through the stands, smiling and clapping hands as he approached the podium to deliver his thoughts. The feeling was that there was no way he would leave--the reception was so warm.

The team players were in the intimate stadium, whose stone exterior was still somehow visible through the people, and they beamed back at their coach.

Pep said he would stay at the club.

Immediately after, the locker room was full of players and press, as if they had just finished a game. They were celebrating. I stood by Eric Abidal, who saw worry on my face, and King Eric joked around with me and gave a playful hug around my shoulders.  

A small group of people were walking outside away from the stadium, Abidal among them. As we passed by the sea, walking on grey cobblestones under the overcast sky, we saw a strip of brick English council estates.

"This is where John Lennon grew up."

And we walked into the courtyard of John Lennon's boyhood home.

**

The Slide

Mascherano pulls ahead at Levante

This season is in a desperate last push for the final month of play.

All of the pressure that accompanies vying for such high stakes is shown on the face of Pep. With it already nearly the end of the season, he still has not re-signed for next year. The speculation is rife about him being wooed to Chelsea.

There is a kitchen-sink mentality to the play. The formations are stacked offensively in order to create movement and--when possible--get the ball to Messi. Play 1-2s that let them pass the ball to the back of the net.

But the 1-2s haven't been as precise, some games.

The final key touch, when it's fallen to Thiago or Cesc or Pedro, has been slightly off. Though Cesc has had his highest goal scoring season to date, he has had a lot more opportunities than before by being moved to the front.

It was thought that he was coming back to Barça to replace Xavi in the mid-field, but he has instead been played with Messi and either Iniesta, Pedro, Alexis, Cuenca... up front. The mid has been occupied by Busquets, Xavi, Thiago, Adriano (labeled a "back"), Keita...

In the back there has been less Pique than before, as he has been reported to have had some static with Pep over his boisterous social life. Mascherano, who was loved in Liverpool's midfield, has been a strong and key player with Puyol in determining the defense. Like Puyol is partially orchestrating Masche to dart to the places he is not quite able to break for. The captain just turned 34.

No Abidal, as he is recovering from having a liver transplant. Many thoughts are with him.

Ibrahim Afelay has finally been declared fit to play, though he has not been in a match in six months. Which brings us to this upcoming week's contests: A trip to London to play Chelsea on Wednesday, and then returning to the Camp Nou to play Madrid.

First things first--Chelsea.

This is a tough time to play Chelsea because they are getting visibly fired up at their successes since Andre Villas Boas was given the sack. They played today and scored 5 on Tottenham. It was a fairly sordid scene, too. The Chelsea mob wouldn't shut up during the moment of silence for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster where 96 Liverpool fans died at a FA cup game against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. That about sums up Chelsea fans: Vocal.

This lot...

In fact, its safe to say that the London fans will be as hostile to the Spanish champs as anyone they could meet. It was three years ago that Barcelona put their champions league run to sleep with Iniesta's wonder goal.

Of course, the psychology of the game is going to be destabilized with the trade whispers currently going between the two sides. Romeu has gone to Chelsea from Barça B, and we might want to get David Luiz soon coming back the other direction...But if Pep is potentially on his way there anyway, how can we plan ahead for trades as comparatively insignificant as that of defensive backs? After all, Chelsea don't have any svengalis freeing up in the transfer window, do they?

Pep looks completely stressed. When his team is ahead, he is freaking out that they will give up opportunities. When they are behind he is confirmed in his fearful judgement that winning the league is nearly "impossible." He screams and shoves his guys around for being the fat cats he'd warned them about. The satisfied winners that don't deserve to wear the crown anymore.

Though he pushes them like a rabid mule cart operator, part of the reason that nets any results at all is the fact that he himself was a club legend, and the idol of more than one of his current star players. With a team so largely home-grown, and he himself a product of the youth cantera system, the players perform in front of Pep like he was the guy up the block that dated their older sister, drove a bitchin' Camaro and gave them their first beer.

But if he was at another club, though his legend would still loom large, it would not be the same as the ingrained awe that he received from his team at Barcelona.

Right now, the team should be racing forward at full bore with all of the momentum they have accumulated through the year behind them. To win the league they must win every single contest and hope that Madrid also drops points along the way.

They will have to beat a resurgent Chelsea over two legs, and then save enough mojo to stomp the tall men in white.

They have to satisfy the desires of an unsettled shaman.

Is this the end?

What to do?