The King of Barcelona had fallen, and the Camp Nou no longer had the grace of a king of elves.
Barcelona's broken spine caused a huge blow that spread far and wide, because the core and leading force of the team not only had an impact on the field, but also on all sides of the team.
Barcelona's locker room contradictions ran through the entire season. The general, the players, and the elements of chaos were everywhere. This vein was also the path that led Barcelona into darkness.
Marca reorganized Barcelona's contradictions and presented them fully in front of the world's fans.
From the "Black Sheep Incident" to the "False Injury Gate," the layers of contradictions finally buried the great Barcelona!
Barcelona's failure had been foreshadowed. Although the club repeatedly forbade its own people from exposing the contradictions within the club to the public, paper could not wrap fire. The Camp Nou had been shrouded in noise and contradictions for a long time this season.
The contradictions first stood out from Edmílson's speech.
"There are many good people in the locker room, but there are also people who have no goals. Our players and coaches form a big family, but many times, there is a 'Black Sheep' (meaning a prodigal son) in this family. "
In late November last year, the Brazilian defensive midfielder's statement opened the lid on the various contradictions in the Barcelona locker room.
Last season, the outspoken Edmílson had said that "professional players should train more and participate less in nightlife." As a result, he was publicly rebuked by Deco and other teammates.
This time, the Brazilian's "Black Sheep" caused an uproar in the entire locker room.
Although he did not name names, the outside world still unanimously speculated that the "Black Sheep" referred to several players led by Ronaldinho.
Although the "Black Sheep Incident" was quelled with the intervention of the club's top management, it made a subtle change in the locker room environment.
According to sources, after that, the ordinary players and the "Ronaldinho party" became estranged.
What made Edmilson even more dumbfounded was that on the 11th of January this year, when the team celebrated the traditional "Invisible Friends" festival (where the team members would give each other gifts according to the results of a draw, but they did not know who the giver was), the Brazilian defensive midfielder received a black sheep as a gift.
After the Christmas holiday, the Brazilian did not return to the team late like last season, but from January onwards, the Brazilian began to disappear because of injuries.
Even if he appeared occasionally, his performance was not good.
Thus, the rumor that Ronaldinho faked his injury began to spread.
In the face of these rumors, Rijkaard always insisted that "Ronaldinho is indeed injured," but the club's medical affairs team released a statement on March 16, stating that "after examination, no muscle injury was found in Ronaldinho," and that "we published this statement with the consent of the player."
These remarks made Li Shuai fall into a huge embarrassment and angered the Brazilian star himself.
Barcelona's internal conflict reached its peak.
It was also because of this statement that Ronaldinho's departure from Barcelona was accelerated.
Despite Barcelona's announcement on April 5 that Ronaldinho had ruptured muscle fibers in his right leg and was basically done with the season ahead of schedule, it could no longer salvage the Brazilian's damaged image.
The aftermath of Injury-Gate wasn't over. On April 9, Barcelona board member Martin unexpectedly said, "The club is using injuries as an excuse to isolate some players."
This method of adding fuel to the fire made the whole team very angry. Afterwards, captain Puyol asked Martin to give an explanation to the whole team. Deco, who was injured along with Ronaldinho, was even more angry and said that he was considering the possibility of suing Martin for slander.
In the end, under the mediation of Laporta, the matter was left unsettled.
But the club did not fire Martin, which made it difficult for some players to accept.
During the season, Deco said several times that "if we don't win the title this season, I'll leave," which shook the team's morale.
On April 20, the big mouth Eto 'o caused trouble for the club again. "If we can't win the title next season, then I have to leave."
The Cameroonian's original intention was that he was ashamed to take a high salary for nothing, but it was quickly interpreted by the media as "Eto 'o threatening Barcelona."
It was better for the players to say less.
If a team did not repeatedly steal the limelight because of its performance on the field, then this kind of exposure was undoubtedly pale and pathetic.
There was still a ray of hope in the darkness.
This season at Camp Nou, the signs of a new king were becoming more and more obvious. This person was Messi!
Before Christmas last year, in the first leg of the El Clásico, Messi missed the battle because of a torn muscle. As a result, Barcelona, who could not find the key to score, lost to Real Madrid at Camp Nou.
Since then, repeated injuries almost ruined Messi's entire season. The scene of him being injured and crying on the field in the Champions League shocked the entire Catalan team.
And the days when he returned to Argentina to recuperate, the stumbling Barcelona was almost counting the days with their fingers waiting for his return.
After his eye-catching performance in the last round of the league, helping the team to sweep Valencia with a score of 6: 0, the media revealed that Chelsea was willing to pay 100 million euros to take Messi from Camp Nou, which caused a small panic among Barcelona fans. Many people were afraid that Barcelona's future flag would flee Camp Nou.
However, Messi firmly said before the El Clásico, "No matter what my current teammates do after the season, I will stay here anyway."
Although from the information disclosed by the media, Messi and Ronaldinho had a good personal relationship, and when there were constant rumors of a big purge in the summer at Camp Nou, Messi expressed to the media more than once that he hoped Ronaldinho could stay.
Of course, this was only a personal feeling. In terms of business, the outside world agreed that if Ronaldinho stayed at Camp Nou, then Messi would never be able to establish himself as king!
The reason was simple. Ronaldinho's influence on Barcelona was not just his personal role in the game. He would lead the team's tactical system and team action.
And Barcelona's new round of rebuilding plan for the summer was obviously derived from the mistake of only planning to make small adjustments last summer.
Last summer's fine-tuning did not save Barcelona from the dark reality. Barcelona's management also realized that the team, from the players to the manager, might need a construction that was close to being pushed down and starting all over again to have a new turnaround.
Therefore, Ronaldinho had to go, and the position of manager Rijkaard was also on the verge of collapse. Many of the other star players in the team were already on the club's purge list, waiting for the new manager to give his opinion on the construction and make the final decision.
But Barcelona understood that the future of Camp Nou must have Messi!
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