La Masia is back and Barcelona will take the lead in a classic match against Real Madrid.
Yamal, Fermin and Guiu all come from the Catalan club’s respected academy and play key roles in the first team squad.
Fermin Lopez, pictured after scoring his first goal against Mallorca, is one of the La Masia players currently making his mark at Barcelona.
Ramin Yamal’s classic in March, which served as a temporary farewell to Camp Nou while the stadium was rebuilt in Barcelona’s last competitive game against Real Madrid, was just 15 years old.
It will be a few weeks before he becomes Barca’s youngest senior debutant.
Fermin Lopez was still a teenager. He spent the spring weekend with Linares’ beaten side and from there was loaned to Barcelona’s B team, playing in the third tier of Spanish football.
Marc Giou, 17, is still coming to terms with Barcelona’s under-19s who were seriously dismantled by Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in last season’s UEFA Youth League.
AZ Alkmaar has a good youth academy but lacks name recognition, name recognition and special roster spots.
The number of graduates from La Masia, Barça’s youth system.
Seven months later, the three young men became even more famous.
Everyone is looking forward to attending Real Madrid’s visit to Montjuïc, Barca’s short-term loan home, on Saturday for the first El Clasico of the 2023/24 season.
Their sudden transition to senior football was perfectly timed.
Fermin, now 20, made many special memories when he played his first Champions League game at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night.
In Barcelona’s advanced midfield position, Fermin often scored against Şahtior, scoring a hat-trick.
Fortunately, one of those attempts found Ferran Torres in the back of the net to open the scoring.
Another hit the post en route to Barca’s second goal in a 2-1 win. It was Fermin’s second goal for the club in a month.
A win over Madrid means the Catalan club are clear of their rivals at the top of the league.
Guiu, a youngster to be exact, was responsible for closing the gap to a point ahead of club football’s biggest clash.
Guiu impressed on his Barcelona debut as manager Xavi came off the bench with 11 minutes remaining to earn a 0-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. He scored with the second touch of the ball.
It was a magical moment.
Striker Jiu was born near the city and has been involved in Barca’s youth system since the age of seven.
Barcelona player’s assessment: In the 62nd minute, he had nothing to do but take the ball from the goal. AFP
Among his cherished childhood memories is a photo of the 10-year-old standing next to Xavi as he welcomed him to a training clinic overseen by the current coach and former Barca captain.
Xavi himself leads by example for Barcelona, with the Catalan coming through the club’s youth academy and playing for the first team for their most successful decade since 2006, winning four Champions League titles.
He last captained Barcelona in 2015.
He stepped onto the Ballon d’Or podium, a year in which three of the candidates who received the most votes were also La Masia graduates.
Lionel Messi signed with Barça.
As a schoolboy who immigrated from Argentina, he won the award in the 2010 polls, behind Andrés Iniesta and Xavi.
At the time, Barca managed to field a squad made up entirely of locally-born players, led by La Masia graduate Pep Guardiola.
But since then, La Masia’s influence has waned for a while, and after Messi’s departure in 2021, the trend has been to bring in established older stars from abroad. Robert Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan have been major signings over the past two summers.
Last year saw La Masia’s regular ambassador leave, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba joined Messi in Miami and Gerard Pique announced his retirement.
However, a combination of injuries to Lewandowski, Frenkie de Jong, Rafinha, Pedri and long-time academy holder Sergi Roberto forced both Pedri and Sergi out of the Clasico.
And because of the tight budget, Xavi has to cover the remaining games.
Various situations.
Position in the club’s own youth fund.
“We are proud of that,” Xavi said after Shakhtar’s victory.
“We have 12 players from our academy in our squad for this match.”
They served him well.
Four of Barça’s last five league goals have come directly from La Masia graduates.
Young prospects Guiu, Fermin and 16-year-old winger Yamal scored their first goals against Mallorca and Granada respectively.
Sergi v.
Great statesman of Granada.
Furthermore, the decisive goal against Sevilla at the end of last month was an own goal by Sergio Ramos, but he managed to block Yamal’s header.
“It works at Masia.” Guiu declared herself delighted after her dream debut.
“And when clubs are in trouble, they have to make the most of it.”
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