A new era in a legendary rivalry.
Sunday, the Clasico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will be the first of the post-Lionel Messi era in Barcelona.
A real revolution in a club that has vibrated for its Argentine genius for more than 17 years.
"La Pulga" did not fail to leave its mark on the numerous clashes with the sworn enemy from Madrid.
But now, Barça must do without his irreplaceable number 10 and bet on the future.
The Catalans have started to tame this situation since the start of the season, in particular by entrusting the keys to the house
to young players, mostly from the Blaugrana training center, La Masia.
Barely of age, these big potentials already have the objective of giving new life to an institution in great questioning.
Training overcomes financial problems
Gripped by his financial worries (a debt of 1.35 billion euros), FC Barcelona must now rely on its young shoots, talents that hatch one by one and try to hide, behind their technical prowess, the weaknesses of a team whose game sometimes runs alongside the doldrums.
Read also Liga: 1.35 billion euros in debt for FC Barcelona, according to President Laporta
Totally overwhelmed in the Champions League, 7th in the La Liga standings, Ronald Koeman's Blaugrana have not yet found a real identity on the collective level. So sometimes you have to rely on blows of brilliance. In the exercise, the young Ansu Fati (18 years old) has already shown off the past seasons and is even now wearing a costume normally tailored for more experienced than him.
In just three games played this season after 10 months of absence due to injury, the prodigy from the Masia already charmed many fans
culés
, thanks to two goals scored, one for his return to action face to Levante and the other against Valencia.
Speed, technique, finish, the youngest scorer in the history of the Champions League (17 years old in 2019) combines all the characteristics of champions.
🇪🇸 #LaLiga
Ansu Fati, a new hope for Barça 🌤
1⃣1⃣ month of absence but a talent still intact
🖋 XXL offers swept away by an extra time
😇 And a 2nd goal in a Clasico Sunday at 4:15 pm on beIN SPORTS 1?
pic.twitter.com/soMnFp2zco
- beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) October 22, 2021
Fati, heir to number 10
Scorer in the last Clasico (Barcelona 1-3 defeat), Fati has proven several times that what is at stake in the event in no way prevented him from putting the pressure aside.
Holder of many records of precocity, the attacker with dual nationality (Guinea-Bissau and Spain) has also just negotiated a contract extension until 2027, with a release clause set at 1 billion euros.
Proof that the heir to Messi's number 10 will be part of Catalan marble.
In addition to Fati, the young Barcelona guard also has in its ranks the talented Pedri (18 years old), from Las Palmas, and Gavi (17 years old), trained at the Masia.
If the first, injured in the quadriceps after a season to play almost all the matches, will be absent against Real Madrid, the second should hold his place in the midfield blaugrana.
Revealed in the jersey of La Roja during the last League of Nations, Gavi is in the process of establishing an indebted status in midfield, in the system of play of Ronald Koeman.
With two caps under the red tunic, Gavi became the youngest Spaniard to play an international match.
Established in the semi-finals of the competition, the Catalan midfielder was one of the architects of his family's victory against the Italian European champions (2-1), before being renewed against France in the final (1 -2).
🇪🇺Barça and Real Madrid are in the 10 clubs having played the most players under 21 in the LDC.
🗞 @ OptaJose pic.twitter.com/9alpA0LQRD
- LigActu 🇪🇸 (@LigActu) October 21, 2021
An apathetic defense
Despite strong potential and a succession that is pushing more and more to play the leading roles - the young Nico Gonzalez (19) being for example expected to replace Sergio Busquets -, Barça is struggling to realize his hopes in his animation. Like a C1 in which they scored only one goal (for six conceded), big gaps are visible in the defensive sector, certainly not spared by injuries, and the attack is carried only by Memphis Depay, who cannot assume all the responsibilities when Ansu Fati does not support him.
Faced with Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday, the game proposed by Koeman's men was close to apathy, and the Catalan final victory (1-0), obtained thanks to a rather unexpected goal from Pique, is more luck than mastery, yet so characteristic of the club with 26 La Liga titles.
But against Real Karim Benzema, small mistakes will not forgive.
Even if Sergio Agüero, injured four days after his signing, was finally able to play a few minutes in Barça's last two games, the total emergence of Barcelona talent will take some time.
An expectation that takes the form of a slow reconstruction, even though the Camp Nou, legendary lair if there is one, no longer manages to attract more than a half of aficionados.
