The Barça-Leganés match held last night at the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc left a bitter. Laporta felt the same way, both for what happened on the field and in the stands. Hansi Flick's team arrived with the intention of regaining momentum after recent setbacks, but they left even more worried. The loss to Leganés adds to the recent defeat against Las Palmas, also at home, which has set off all the alarms at Barça.
The lack of home victories is showing that something's not right and Laporta's gaze is directly fixed on the stands. In fact, the atmosphere last night at Montjuïc was really cold: The attendance was the worst of the entire season. The players tried to cheer up the fans on more than one occasion, but without success.
This situation is due to the fact that Grada de Animación["The Cheering Stands"]was expelled by Laporta because of their refusal to pay fines imposed for their actions during last season. Barça received more than 20 complaints from LaLiga for chants and insults, resulting in a 21,000-euro sanction. Laporta refused to pay this amount and demanded it from the Grada members, but they refused and now they can't cheer and support the team.
Regretting Barça-Leganés: Laporta Looks at the Stands and Acknowledges His Mistake
Faced with such a situation, Laporta decided to take a measure that, on paper, seemed brilliant to try to solve the lack of spirit: He hired a popular band to cheer the stands. However, the experiment didn't go as expected. The music and attempts to cheer weren't well received by the fans, who began to whistle at the band, worsening the situation.
In a stadium already experiencing a heavy atmosphere, Laporta's decision only contributed to increasing the fans' frustration. That's why, looking ahead to the next home game against Atleti, it seems unlikely that the scene will be repeated. The idea of replacing Grada de Animación with a popular band was a failed attempt to give the team a new boost, with disastrous results.
In any case, Laporta's challenge is not only on the sporting front but also in restoring unity between players and fans. We'll see how this situation is solved in the next match, which will pit Flick's team against Simeone's. For now, it seems Laporta won't repeat the band next Saturday, and new attempts are expected to restore the atmosphere at Montjuïc.