Barcelona continues to play as a family. or almost. And the calls of the president himself, Joan Laporta, to encourage the fans to fill the stands of the Camp Nou “because we play a lot”, fell on an empty bag because the fans still did not respond.

About 62,789 spectators gathered in the stadium against Mallorca, a number just over 57 thousand who attended the matches against Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano. But confirmation of the trend should be a concern for the club taking into account the return Ansu Fatiwho has not been part of a call since January 20 in the King’s Cup.

As happened in the matches against Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano, the Camp Nou made a rather poor start against Mallorca. The discontent among Barcelona fans is starting to worryTweet embed pic.twitter.com/b5PQmTMWNc

– Jordi Blanco Deutch (@Elwood_White) May 1, 2022

Xavi, as he usually does, prefers to praise the spirit of those who come, saying that it is “a show because they encourage us, support them…” and does not enter into the analysis of the seats, many of which are still empty. “What we must do is encourage them to come back,” he confined himself to saying, without further ado, this Sunday after the duel against Mallorca, without further consideration.

But the reality is what it is. Of the 17 league matches played by Barcelona this season at home, only one, El Clasico against Real Madrid, gathered more than 80,000 spectators (86,422). The 74,000 against Espanyol and Atlético Madrid were slightly exceeded, the 76,000 were reached against Sevilla…and in the remaining 13, 70,000 were not reached.

Whether it comes to schedules, prices, the absence of Seient Lliure, or also, the more than 26,000 subscribers who took advantage of the absence leave this season… the truth is that Camp Nou stands looking drab with each an empty game, with a lively audience busy following guidelines The group of animation (which barely occupied half of its reserved space this Sunday), remembering Madrid and Espanyol, applauding everything necessary and protesting, a lot, the opponent’s loss of time (something that always happens) as well as any foul committed against any player in Barcelona.

Something has changed in Barcelona’s world since the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s not only worth noting Leo Messi’s absence to explain the discontent that Barcelona’s team is experiencing on the field. In the first three matches of the season (Real Sociedad, Getafe and Granada) less than 35,000 spectators were reached and Valencia, the long-time big-ticket rival, barely cited 47 fans in the stands, in October.

The topic of general restrictions for the defense of not being in the stands was explained, which was true in the first months…but with the end of these restrictions nothing seems to have changed. The opposite appears to be true.

In the midst of a string of good results, already with Xavi and when they even wanted to sell in some environments they could fight for the title, the duel against Athletic did not gather even 70,000 fans… There were barely 54,000 against Osasuna.

What happened in the last three matches ended up confirming these negative expectations … which were not different even in the Champions League: 39,000 against Bayern, 45,000 against Dynamo (when there were still restrictions) and 49,000 against Benfica and barely showed a better atmosphere in matches. The three European leagues, with 73,000 fans against Napoli, only 61,000 against Napoli and 79,000 on the night of Eintracht Frankfurt … where more than 30,000 were Germans.

There is something going on in Barcelona and at the Camp Nou… Looking the other way, it doesn’t seem that contentious praise for the cheering mood and cheers of the cheering crowd is the only interesting thing to note.