The referee whistled Ultimate and Fermin Lopez collapsed on the ground, exhausted. In Barcelona’s technical area, there were smiles and knowing looks between assistant coach Marcus Sorg and the rest of the coaches and players still on the bench.
Barcelona had just beaten Valencia 7-1 and won a La Liga game for the first time since Dec. 3, it was even longer since their last home win, which came here on Nov. 3 (a 3-1 win over Espanyol). By day, Barcelona had endured, to borrow head coach Hansi Flick’s word, an “S*** November” and a lousy December, an era in which they picked up just five numbers out of an imaginable 21.
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From the League Summit, six numbers in front of a real Madrid team that had in the Classic on October 26, are third, seven numbers behind.
All this may make you think that Barcelona was a team in crisis, but watching them play, the sensations are different.
Barcelona is a team of wingers. Even if their form in La Liga collapses, they qualified for the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, won the Spanish Super Cup through the crush of Madrid 5-2, and placed themselves in the knockout phase of the Champions League with a sight attack of On Return Returning Returning When Returning to Returning to Lose Cash for Losing Again.
They have scored 29 goals in their last seven games and brought up their century for the season (after just 32 games) against Valencia. That made Flick the second-fastest manager to reach that figure with Barcelona after Helenio Herrera in 1959 (31 games), according to Opta. They also scored their 101st goal, equalling the number of goals scored in the entire 2022-23 season in which they won La Liga.
Sunday’s win against Valencia was secured with ease. Barcelona never looked back once they had opened the scoring in the third minute when Lamine Yamal freed himself from his marker and crossed for Frenkie de Jong to finish. There were multiple impressive performances, although none could quite match Fermin Lopez, whose two goals and two assists meant he became the youngest Barcelona player to be involved in four goals in the same game since Bojan Krkic against Real Valladolid in 2008.
All this was done despite the film resting some vital players: Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski, and Pedri were excluded with an abdominal problem. Lopez, Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres were brought in and tried their luck.
Even Inaki Pena, their starting goalkeeper in La Liga since Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s injury in September, did not play, replaced by Wojciech Szczesny. That Barcelona still thrashed their visitors with such a changed line-up says a lot about Flick’s squad management. Practically every player is at their best and knows what Flick is demanding of them tactically.
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Flick alluded to the mastermind in his dressing room in his post-match press conference. “The scenario that inspired me the most was when I spoke with Gavi, who I looked to bring in the last 15 minutes, and he said, ‘No, bring Pablo Torre,'” he stated. It’s amazing, it’s great. You can see how the players are hooked on each other. I love Gavi for his attitude and talking like that right now is fantastic. “
So why was there a drop in results? Except for matches against Real Sociedad (1-0 away defeat) and Getafe (1-1 away draw), performances were not poor. Yet, results undoubtedly suffered, with Barcelona drawing three and losing four league games.
“You could say that in La Liga we dropped five or 10 per cent,” Flick said before the game against Valencia. “In Getafe, it was our fault, we didn’t finish the game with the three points, we didn’t play very well, we weren’t focused. That has to change. We have to be focused from the start to the finish.”
Sources, who prefer to remain anonymous to preserve their relationships, close to the Barcelona dressing room consulted by The Athletic attribute this to the youth of the team and that it is difficult for inexperienced players to match the intensity of their performances against great rivals in what should be more routine matches.
They are one of the youngest Barcelonas in living memory. They are talented, but fluctuations between extremes are expected.
Despite their drop in league position, Flick’s side can still shape their destiny. They are three points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and face them in March. The gap to Real Madrid is bigger, but Barca have a home Clasico in May.
However, the doubts are less about how Barcelona perform on those marquee occasions and whether they can regain consistency, especially at home. That, in itself, could be shaped by how far they go in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.
What is indeniable is that the Catalan Club Back has a forged task on which, which can still take them to some other title.
(Top photo: David Ramos/Getty Images)