Down on the bench, Jordi Alba leaned towards to Ronald Araújo, said something cheeky and grinned. At which point, the Uruguayan, a little slow to click at first, went from huh?! to a line of his own and both of them started laughing. They covered their mouths so you couldn’t work out what it actually was but it was more fun to guess anyway, a kind of Camp Nou caption competition. Something like: “And then he only goes and says: ‘surely love is a kind of blackmail,’” perhaps. Or: “Should have gone to Spurs.”
They had just gone into the 92nd minute of Sunday’s game and Barcelona were leading Osasuna 4-0. Alba had been withdrawn, invited to enjoy the rest the night off. To his left were Gerard Piqué and Ferrán Torres, their work here done, much like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Pedri who sat in the shadows of the second row. Alongside them, Adama Traoré, Araújo and the two De Jongs hadn’t been needed, but they will be. For now, they had to sit it out and watch.
