Barça enjoy one night of bliss thanks to Dembélé, a man who wouldn’t move

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 Alba had been withdrawn, invited to enjoy the rest the night off.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.

Alba had turned to Araújo at exactly the moment Ousmane Dembélé had escaped up the right again. This time the Frenchman’s cross fell short, but they could laugh: the game was won and Dembélé had already created two goals for the second time in 14 days. In four league matches, he had as many assists as in the previous f45. Only two players, Karim Benzema and Óscar Trejo, have more in the league. And Dembélé has startedonly seven games.

He wasn’t supposed to start any more. It was 53 days since he had been handed an ultimatum: renew your contract or leave now.

Or, y’know, don’t.

As negotiations fell apart – Barcelona unable to reach agreement with a player their president claimed was “better than Mbappé” – Xavi Hernández had warned that leaving someone in the stands