Barcelona’s Champions League win built off youngsters playing in an exceptional young midfield trio of Marc Casado, Pedri and Fermin Lopez’s tireless work in the middle.
Barcelona humiliated Bayern Munich in their 4-1 Champions League win on Wednesday night and in la liga destroyed Real Madrid 4 nil in the El Clasico on the weekend.
Barcelona’s Champions League win built off youngsters
That success has been built on the foundations of this midfield trio. Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock called the trio “exceptional” and said they “constantly allowed Barcelona to play”.
Barca are purring right now and the shield of Casado, has a natural understanding of how to read danger and was the deepest of the three midfielders, shielding the defence and winning the ball back for his side.
His first Barcelona start this season
The former Barcelona FC B captain only made his first Barcelona start this season, but has become a regular for Hansi Flick’s side, getting the nod in all of their Champions League matches this term, and came up with an assist on Wednesday.
You can clearly see the Barca academy are using the same formula of when they introduced the famous 3 midfielders of the past, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.
The midfield trio they won three Champions Leagues, five La Liga titles, three super cups, three Copa del Rey trophies, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.
Casado played twice for Xavi
“Casado played twice for Xavi last season and Xavi was told if you put Casado in the team enough, he wouldn’t come out of it,” added Balague.
“Xavi thought he was too short for a holding midfielder, but he’s in now.”
Just ahead of Casado was Pedri, already a superstar and a true champion of the transition, constantly receiving the ball off his defenders and playing it forward.
Pedri has a 1bn Euro release clause
Pedri has a 1bn Euro release clause. After he joined Barca from Las Palmas in 2020 at the age of 16, the young magician won the Golden Boy award in 2021 and, that same year, ended up signing a contract extension which included a 1bn euro (£846m) release clause.
Barcelona finished 10 points behind Real Madrid in La Liga last season, and they are putting their faith in mostly young players to bring success this term.