As if it were reflected in the surrounding environment, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona football jumps from the heat of the Borussia Dortmund stadium (2-3) to the cold of Montjuïc against Leganés (0-1). Never so cold in the season as against the Madrid team: 39,523 spectators, the lowest attendance of the campaign, without a cheering crowd or an enthusiastic audience capable of emotionally igniting a rookie team (23.7 years on average, the youngest of the League), without decisive leaders, too dependent on the homeless talent of Lamine Yamal, now back in the infirmary after a new problem with his right ankle. Hansi Flick’s Barcelona is fading in the League: five points from the last 18, eight from 21 if the victory in the derby against Espanyol is taken into account, the turning point in the Blaugrana’s game.
Lewandowski’s downturn. It was after the game against Espanyol in Montjuïc, one day after taking over the Santiago Bernabéu, when Hansi Flick became angry with the dressing room. “I told them at half-time that sometimes we lose concentration and these things sometimes happen. I accept it, so far the team is having a very good season with a spectacular performance,” said the Barça coach after the victory in the Catalan classic (3-1). Before the match against Espanyol, Barcelona had added 30 points in 11 games, with 37 goals scored, 14 (38%) bearing the seal of Lewandowski. In the following seven games, Barça scored 13 goals, only two (15%) from the Pole. A Barça that is symbiotic with its striker: the team shoots less, it has gone from counting four per game to two; While Lewandowski loses his sense of smell in the area, his shooting accuracy was 32%, now 13%. “What failed against Leganés cannot fail. He had two very clear ones, in the first one he even had time to do what he wanted,” they maintain from the sports area. With Lewandowski’s scoring muses in standbyBarcelona has the inspiration of Lamine Yamal left.
Without Lamine there is no Barça. Lamine Yamal has 72 games in the first team, enough time to raise a Golden Boy that already seems to be too small for him, when he is only 17 years old. Without wingers in the squad, every time Barcelona wants to open the field, they look to Lamine Yamal. On the other side is Bucket. “Bucket?” they ask in sports management; “He doesn’t decide well in attack, he isn’t forceful in defense. “People criticized Cancelo and now we would give anything to have him back.” It happens, then, that when Barça cannot open closed defenses, the only key is Lamine. The numbers are chilling: without Yamal on the field, Barcelona played four games, winning none. With him on the pitch, the Blaugrana played 14 games, won 12, tied one and lost another, against Leganés. “They hit him in the first half, but he wanted to continue playing for his balls,” says a locker room veteran. This Monday Barcelona communicated the medical report. “He had trauma to his right ankle. The tests carried out this morning have shown a grade 1 injury to the anterior intertibio-peroneal ligament,” the Barça club reported. The youth player will be out for three to four weeks, a time for new leaders to emerge in a leaderless team.
Captain Raphinha. Since the old guard has its privileged retirement at Inter Miami in the shadow of Leo Messi, the Barça locker room has had a hard time rebuilding the new tough group. The captain is Ter Stegen and his ancestry is often questioned. Not to mention De Jong’s. Ignored by the club, the Dutchman is immersed in football and leadership silence. Araujo threatens to speak, but he is just returning from the injury; Iñigo Martínez, for his part, is trying to take a step forward, although he has only been in the Barcelona squad for a year and a half. The bracelet, then, falls to a beloved guy like Raphinha. “You can’t go out for a game like you did against Leganés. It’s not a coach’s problem. It belongs to the players,” a manager complains. Barça has nothing left, a young group, without powerful leaders, it seems condemned to the sins of youth.
Lack of gasoline. The backbone of Barcelona does not have enough background to tolerate the frenetic pace of the physical football of the Champions League added to the intense pace of the League. Barça regains dominance in Europe, but remains empty in Spain. Cubarsí is 17 years old, Casadó, 21 years old, last year he played in the First RFEF, while the exaggerated youth of the squad is joined by Pedri (21), Balde (21) and, of course, Lamine Yamal (17) . “The players have to get used to playing every three or four days, always with maximum performance,” recalled Marcus Sorg, Barcelona assistant coach. With the middle class of the squad looking for their place (De Jong, Araujo, Fermín, Pau Víctor, Ferran Torres and Eric García), Hansi Flick is looking for new balances so that rivals do not continue to discover tricks for him.
No new formulas. Barcelona’s fast and forceful game, represented in Raphinha, seeks to reinvent itself. For now, Hansi Flick’s new recipe is in the past: before the game against Espanyol, Barça signed an average of 580 passes per duel; after the derby, 625. The Blaugrana have achieved greater control of the ball, but in exchange they have lost the ability to finish (17 to 15), and recoveries in the opponent’s field (8.55 to 7.7). Just at the moment when the calendar seemed to favor them (Espanyol, Real Sociedad, Celta, Las Palmas, Mallorca, Betis and Leganés), Barcelona cooled down in Montjuïc. And, as if that were not enough, next Saturday they will host the hottest team of the moment without Lamine Yamal, their football brazier: Griezmann’s Atlético.
