Barcelona Win The Copa Del Rey

As the game wore down, and the Barcelona fans and coaches could feel victory approaching, Pep Guardiola finally seemed content. He grinned widely, waved to his players celebrating on the bench, and then turned to his successor (Tito Vilanova, his assistant) and gave him a long, heartfelt hug. It was an important moment for a Barcelona community that has been worrying about the coming change in leadership.

Sure, Guardiola and Vilanova seemed to say, the end of the Pep era is upon us; but the Vilanova era has just begun. Or at least that’s what we’d like to believe.

Well, that was quick. In the preview to this match, I talked about what the Spanish call ganas, or what some of us in the baseball world would call want: that is, a player or a team’s level of dedication to a cause, their will to win and to succeed. I talked about how neither of these two teams had exhibited very much will to win--they just didn’t have very much want--towards the end of the season. Both sides let important titles slip from their fingers, and both sides had payed the ultimate price--that is, being essentially shut out.

Well, not any more.

The consensus in Madrid is pretty clear: Esperanza Aguirre, the President of the Comunidad de Madrid (the province where Madrid is located), should not have talked about the Spanish national anthem. A couple days ago, after some groups of fans voiced a plan to whistle the national anthem during pregame ceremonies, Aguirre said to El Pais,

It was probably not the right thing to say.

When FC Barcelona takes on Athletic Club Bilbao tonight in Madrid (22:00 CET, 4:00 PM EST), there will be a lot more than bragging rights on the table. But beyond all the politics of the afternoon--neither side is particularly fond of the King, and this is his Cup, after all--there will be something much more base, more pure in play. Tonight, both sides will be playing to save their season.

I know that sounds pretty drastic: I mean, both teams managed to make deep runs in European competitions (Barça lost to eventual champions Chelsea in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, while Athletic Bilbao lost to Spanish rival Atlético Madrid in the final of the Europa League), made it to this final, and finished in relatively respectable position in their domestic leagues (Barça was second, Bilbao 10th). But these achievements pale in comparison to what these two sides lost this season.