The referee blew the final whistle and Fermin Lopez collapsed onto the pitch, exhausted. In Barcelona’s technical area, there were smiles and knowing looks between assistant coach Marcus Sorg and the rest of the technical staff and the players still on the bench.
Barcelona had just beaten Valencia 7-1 and won a La Liga match for the first time since December 3. It had been even longer since their last home league win (November 3 and a 3-1 victory over Espanyo). Since that day, Barcelona had endured — to borrow head coach HansiFlick’s phrase — a ‘s*** November’ and a dismal December, a period in which they only picked up six points out of a possible 24.
From being top of La Liga, six points ahead of a Real Madrid team they had thrashed in the Clasico on October 26, they slumped to third, seven points behind.
All this might make you think that Barcelona were a team in crisis. But, watching them play, the sensations are rather different.
Barcelona are a team of extremes. Even while their form in La Liga was collapsing, they qualified for the quarter finals of the Copa del Rey, won the Spanish Super Cup by crushing Madrid 5-2 an eased into the knockout phase of the Champions League with a game to spare.
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 was secured with ease, Barcelona never looking 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 stand-out performances, although none could quite match Fermin Lopez, whose two goal and two assists meant he became the youngest Barcelona player to be involved in four goals in the same game since Bojan Krkic against Valladolid in 2008.
Fermin Lopez scores Barcelona’s fourth goal against Valencia (David Ramos/Getty Images)
All this was achieved despite Fick giving important players like Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski a rest, with Lopez, Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres impressing in their absence, and Pedri ruled out with a stomach problem. Even Inaki Pena, the La Liga starting goalkeeper since Marc Andre Ter Stegen’s injury in September, did not play, replaced by Wojciech Szczesny.
That Barcelona were still able to thrash their visitors with such a changed line-up says a lot about Flick’s management of the squad. Practically every player is at their best and knows what Flick is demanding of them tactically.
-Flick hinted at the spirit in his dressing room at his post-match press conference. “The situation that impressed me the most was when I spoke to Gavi, who I wanted to bring on in the last 15 minutes, and he said, ‘No, bring on Pablo Torre’,” he said. “This is incredible, it’s great. You can see how the players are connected to each other. I love Gavi for his attitude and to talk like that at that moment is fantastic.”
So why was were there a drop in results? With the exception of matches against Real Sociedad and Getafe, performances were not poor yet results undoubtedly suffered, with Barcelona drawing three and losing four games in two months.
“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.”
Hansi Flick retains confidence in his young team (David Ramos/Getty Images)
Sources close to the Barcelona dressing room consulted by The Athleticwho prefer to remain anonymous to preserve their relationships, 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.
One of the youngest Barcelona teams in living memory is dealing with an overflowing talent and fluctuations between extremes are, to some extent, to be expected.
Flick’s side remain third in La Liga but they can still shape their own destiny. They can overtake Atletico Madrid in second place if they beat Diego Simeone’s team in March, and can cut three points off Real Madrid if they win the second league Clasico against Ancelotti’s team. But the doubts are less about how Barcelona perform in those marquee occasions and whether they can regain consistency, especially at home. That, in itself, could be shaped by far they go in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.
What is indisputable is that the Catalan club once again has a solid project to focus on — one which could still lead them to another title.
(Top photo: David Ramos/Getty Images)
