La Remuntada - To make a comeback
To come out of a bad phase
So you’re sitting in your living room with your friends, watching the match. Finally, after days of waiting, the agony of time passing by so slowly, counting each second down till you finally hear the whistle, signals the beginning of a great war – the kickoff. Most of your friends who are watching the game along with you are supporting the rival team.
Months of anticipation, bantering with rivals fans, pumping your chest with glory. 30 minutes into the game and your deepest nightmares are coming true. Your team is down like the bear tied to the stake. Your rivals gloat with the cream of their superiority, and you, crestfallen, keep staring into the demise of your team. The team that inspires your life and makes you believe in words like victory, glory, joy and hope, is losing.
Where do you look to as a fan, as a die-hard fan, of your club? Ashamed, aren’t you?
The answer would be yes if you are a plastic fan.
And then the linings appear, coloured silver. The players answer. Unperturbed, they walk onto the ground at the commence of the second period with a new motivation. “We won’t lose, WE won’t!” Just when hope is about to be lost, the leaders on the field answer with a display of skill which makes your heart skip a beat. Your team is back in the game, with its hero, your hero, a crucial cog in the determined winning machine, which is your team.
I’ll give you an instance of a team that came from behind and staged one of the greatest comeback victories in football – La Remuntada!
If you can’t support us when we lose, don’t support us when we win!
Having lost the 1st leg of their round of 16 clash against AC Milan away from home, FC Barcelona were immensely criticized by many across the world (including their own “fans”). ‘They are not going to win it from here now’, ‘the downfall of this team has begun’, ‘Messi is losing his charm’, ‘this team won’t go any further in this competition’, and many such phrases were common in their use over those two weeks. The plastic fans of the club started showing their true colours, as many criticized, many others lost faith in the team, and many laughed at those who still supported the team, their team. But if one cannot support his team when they lose, he shouldn’t support the team when they win either.
Many voices had been doubting Barça in the days following the first leg against AC Milan, but the critics were soon silenced by the blistering way in which the Catalans started the reverse fixture, immediately throwing everything at a Milan side that wasn’t given a moment to react.
Many doubted Barça’s chances of making it through to the next round, but it only took a matter of 90-odd minutes for the Catalans to prove their doubters wrong. FC Barcelona won the 2nd leg 4-0, thereby winning the tie 4-2 on aggregate. A comeback, a show of greatness and team-work, and qualification to the quarter finals of the Champions League this season, the victory has given Barça and their ‘Cules’ a reason to smile.
The greatest team the planet has ever seen just got greater.
P.S. - Every team goes through a bad phase, but only great teams get through a bad phase!