Summary of Simon Kuper's The Barcelona Complex

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I began writing my book in 1992, when I walked into the Camp Nou as a twenty-two-year-old. I had never known Barcelona was such a beautiful city. I played bad chess in the sun at Kasparo bar, and decided I wanted to return here one day.

#2 I had always wanted to understand how Messi performed the tricks he did on the field. I began researching Barça, thinking I was going to explain the club’s rise to greatness, but I ended up documenting the club’s decline.

#3 I had visited Barcelona many times as a journalist, and in 2007, I won FC Barcelona’s annual sportswriting prize. The club insisted I come to the awards ceremony and lunch afterward. I realized that Barça regarded me as an alumnus.

#4 I wanted to understand Cruyff and Messi as people, not as demigods. I wanted to study Barça not as a theater of dreams but as a workplace. I used to worry that football was a lower subject than politics, but I no longer do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822502086

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Simon Kuper's The Barcelona Complex

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I began writing my book in 1992, when I walked into the Camp Nou as a twenty-two-year-old. I had never known Barcelona was such a beautiful city. I played bad chess in the sun at Kasparo bar, and decided I wanted to return here one day.

#2

I had always wanted to understand how Messi performed the tricks he did on the field. I began researching Barça, thinking I was going to explain the club’s rise to greatness, but I ended up documenting the club’s decline.

#3

I had visited Barcelona many times as a journalist, and in 2007, I won FC Barcelona’s annual sportswriting prize. The club insisted I come to the awards ceremony and lunch afterward. I realized that Barça regarded me as an alumnus.

#4

I wanted to understand Cruyff and Messi as people, not as demigods. I wanted to study Barça not as a theater of dreams but as a workplace. I used to worry that football was a lower subject than politics, but I no longer do.

#5

I interviewed dozens of mid-ranking club employees, from nutritionists to video analysts to social media experts. They all seemed excited about the chance to explain the thing they spend their lives doing.

#6

The Camp Nou is the house of Barça, and it is inhabited by four overlapping castes: directius, socis, employees, and players. The most prestigious powerbase in Catalonia is the boardroom of FC Barcelona, which emphatically is not a working-class institution.

#7

After the Fascists took Barcelona, they conducted open-air executions at the Camp de la Bota in the Poblenou district. In later decades, fifty-four mass graves containing four thousand corpses would be unearthed in the city.

#8

The relationship between Barcelona and Real