Orte clothing store in Madrid Bright red, lined with polka dots and as long as three cars, the Orte clothing store sign has long been located on Madrid’s Alcalá street (Spain), its presence unwavering since its inception. even when fast food restaurants and chains started popping up. When the store closed and the land turned to rent, the news quickly reached Alberto Nanclares. Within days he arrived at the site, working with a team to try to remove the sign from the façade, where it has stood for more than five decades. Nanclares is part of the Iberian Graphic Heritage Protection Network, which includes more than 50 projects dedicated to honoring and protecting a type of heritage that they say is endangered: the commercial signs that have long made their mark. city ​​identity. “Everybody sees these signs, but few people pay attention to them,” said Nanclares. “When they are thrown away, the memory of our city is thrown away.” The projects in the network are diverse – there is a movement to preserve signs in the hope that they might one day appear in a museum, such as Nanclares’ Paco Graco project, as well as a project to classify objects. signs, from century-old enamelware to colorful neon signs. It all creates a living archive that spans 25 cities and towns across the peninsula. The core vision of the network is that heritage includes not only palaces, cathedrals and royal jewels, but also the places that shape our lives and identities – a heritage that is open to all. everyone, according to Nanclares. “There are very few people in Spain who think that this is heritage, that this is what binds us together, allows us to progress and understand ourselves better.” Inspired by signage museums in Berlin (Germany) and Warsaw (Poland), the Iberian movement took on new meaning after a series of recessions – from the 2008 economic crisis to to the Covid-19 pandemic – which changed the cityscape. Laura Asensio, a graphic designer in Valladolid, Spain, says that when small businesses close, they are often replaced by giant global corporations that don’t have much of a local connection. She points to the changes that have swept Spain’s city centres: “Whether you’re in Madrid, Barcelona or Salamanca, the city’s iconic symbols are now essentially the same,” Asensio says. “There will always be a McDonald’s, a Zara store… It’s a pity that cities lose their charm.” The Letreiro Galeria project has collected more than 250 signs Asensio’s project, Valladolid with Character, hopes to prevent this monotony with an interactive map of more than 1,000 signs around the city. Compiled by a team of people, the map marks everything from the decades-old red bus stop signs welcoming visitors to the giant calligraphy pen that sits above the sign of a fountain pen shop. In Lisbon (Portugal), Rita Múrias and Paola Batata started their project in 2014, when souvenir shops and crepe stalls sprang up all over the city. “We were designers in search of ideas, and then we realized these signs capture the stories of store owners and human memories,” says Múrias. “People tell you about a time they visited these stores with their grandmother, or when they were kids. They associate location with memories.” The two soon began using their free time and budget to “rescue” signs from businesses that were about to close. Their project, Letreiro Galeria (Sign Exhibit), has now collected 250 different signs. They are currently in a borrowed warehouse while the two strive to realize their dream of opening a museum. While some cities have enacted laws to protect signs, the network’s members hope that their efforts will help people understand heritage of this kind. “It is a process of raising awareness. People’s reactions are amazing when they follow me on Instagram and then they love the sign more than the selfie,” said López. “Then they started sending me pictures of the signs they saw while traveling. It creates a chain effect.”

The answer is correct, but not enough. In the Alfredo Di Stefano Classic match, Barca played the first half very badly, before going up in the second half of the match but could not restore the situation. In addition to arbitration, this failure also stems from both human and tactical problems. And they arose from a minimal win over Valladolid in the previous round, when they had just returned from the break to make room for a series of national teams.

Although “FIFA virus” did not take away coach Koeman’s important card, it exhausted the pillars in his hand. Therefore, Barca cannot maintain a high-pressing pressing style to force the opponent to make a mistake. Before Valladolid was like that, and it was even more evident in the match of El Clasico, when Real Madrid easily escaped the siege of the Catalunya team. In the opposite direction, Gerard Pique’s failure to recover made it difficult for them to get the ball from below. Because both midfielder Clement Lenglet and Ronald Araujo are not good at escape pressing situations.

There are many problems waiting for Ronald Koeman to solve at Barca.

A 2-week break to make room for national teams also helps opponents find a solution to overcome the 3-5-2 scheme that once helped Barca revive in La Liga. By dragging the defense low, Real Madrid did not give Ousmane Dembele space to promote speed and penetrating ability. In addition to the isolated Lionel Messi, the spikes on the flanks Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest have no addresses to pass the ball. That is why the attackers of the Catalunya team played quite a deadlock in the match against Valldolid and the first half of the El Clasico match.

The habit of distraction at the beginning of the match is also one of Barca’s death points. 5 goals out of their 26 La Liga goals this season came in the first 15 minutes (19 percent). In the Classic match, Real Madrid took only 13 minutes to open the scoring with a goal from Karim Benzema. And worse still, when being led, the Catalunya rarely go upstream to win. This season, Barca has only won 5 matches in 17 times for their opponents to open the score in all competitions. Those were the reverse wins against Vallecano, Granada in the King’s Cup, and against Sociedad, Betis and … Bilbao in La Liga.

The cause of that situation is because Barca in fact does not have many factors that can cause a mutation on the bench. Of course, this is not the problem of coach Koeman but the responsibility of the new CEO Mateu Alemany. But to change that, the Catalans need to wait for the summer transfer window. As for the final match tomorrow night with Bilbao, they will still have to aim for victory with what they have.

Waiting for Koeman’s charm

For the encounter with Bilbao, Barca are hoping for the fate of Ronald Koeman’s Cup of the King, who has twice reached the final of the tournament and won both. The first time was in the 1989/90 season, when he was a member of the Dream Team of the Catalunya team that defeated Real Madrid 2-0 in the final. The second time was the 2007/08 season, when he was crowned coach of Valencia, after a 3-1 win over Getafe in the final.

9.Tomorrow night’s match at La Cartuja will be the 9th, Barca and Bilbao meet in the final of the Spanish King’s Cup. After 8 previous finals, Barca won 5 and lost 3.