La Masia remains the true key for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona | OneFootball

La Masia, the youth academy of FC Barcelona, has always been regarded as one of the finest in world football. However, as the years have gone by, for many it has already become the undisputed best academy in the world. Fortunately for Barcelona, it just so happens to save them on a lot of occasions.

Following the disastrous mismanagement of resources that the Catalan club underwent over the last few seasons, the restrictions that have been imposed on them ever since have been suffocating. Limited spending has forced the club to work with very little, but it has also been a blessing in disguise.

The old teachings of both Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola have thus come into play, as this Barcelona team under Hansi Flick has now adopted some of those teachings. La Masia remains the true key for this team, and it has been shown this season by the German tactician’s squad.

As highlighted by SPORT, La Masia players have been a true constant for Hansi Flick this season. While his initial introductions clarified the respect and admiration he had for Barça’s youth, most would not have expected him to end up relying as much on them as he has done so far this season.

In the most recent win over Deportivo Alaves, for instance, Hansi Flick started the game off with seven players from La Masia in the first half. The likes of Inaki Pena, Hector Fort, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde, Eric Garcia, Marc Casado, and Lamine Yamal all played the first half in which the team scored three goals. Later on, even Gerard Martin and Ansu Fati came on to take the total to nine La Masia players.

However, despite this high number of academy players featuring in this game, it is still not the highest number that Hansi Flick’s team has reached this season in any given game. That still happened against Osasuna, a game in which heavy rotations led to ten La Masia players in total having played at some point during the game.

Even previously against the likes of Getafe, Villarreal, Real Valladolid, Girona, and most other games, La Masia’s talents remained a constant for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. Despite dealing with so many injuries this season as well on top of their limited spending, this team would not be nearly as good as it has been had it not been for La Masia’s saving grace.

With eight victories from nine La Liga games so far and a convincing win over BSC Young Boys in the Champions League as well, La Masia has served the Catalan club well so far this season.

More players are expected to return soon, including La Masia talents such as Gavi and Dani Olmo, and this dependence on the club’s youth players will likely remain a big part of Flick’s team this season moving forward as well.