Marc Bernal: La Masia Next Great Talent | OneFootball

The date is August 27, 2024. Barcelona are in the midst of their third league match of the season, and their third since the hiring of Hansi Flick as manager. After a 10th-minute goal from Rayo through Unai López, Barcelona made their first of many impressive comebacks under their new German coach, turning it around to 2-1 through goals from Pedri and debutant Dani Olmo.

Making his third start in midfield alongside Pedri is a 17-year-old midfielder, whom Hansi Flick called up from La Masia and whom the German is looking to make his breakout star—Marc Bernal. The third member of an incredible 2007 class of breakout stars at Barca, including Pau Cubarsí and Lamine Yamal, the midfielder has impressed so far for the club.

A Rock Bottom Moment for Bernal

Then, deep into stoppage time, disaster strikes for the youngster.

As Rayo winger Isi Palazón controls the ball on the wing, the young Bernal charges at him. The winger’s right knee collides with force into Bernal’s left, inverting the 17-year-old’s knee slightly. Immediately, the midfielder falls to the ground, clutching his knee in pain. He knows that something’s wrong. Bernal can be seen in tears as he’s carried off the pitch by Barcelona’s doctors, and in a few hours, his worst fears will be confirmed: he’s torn his ACL.

It was a moment that the youngster would later describe as “rock bottom” and the start of a grueling recovery process. As his team would march on to domestic treble success and get staggeringly close to the Champions League final without him, Bernal would watch it all from the training room, working, slowly but surely, to get his knee back to health.

By the 2025/26 campaign, questions would start to be asked about the midfielder’s return. By May, he had started running on grass again and would join the Barcelona group in their Asian preseason tour in July.

He would, however, have to wait until September 14, 383 days after his injury against Rayo, to make his first appearance back. Bernal would be given a 9-minute run against Valencia and would mark his return with an assist. The midfielder would play the ball past the Valencia defensive line to Robert Lewandowski, who chipped it home to make it 6-0 on the night.

After that, though, Bernal’s minutes were severely limited as he returned to 100% fitness following his injury. In the next two and a half months, Bernal would play just 39 minutes of game time across five substitute appearances while returning to fitness. Hansi Flick would explain this lack of minutes to the midfielder by telling him, “I want you for 15 years, not for one match.”

Returning to Starting Games

Finally, near the end of November, in a match against Alavés, Bernal would start a match, playing the first half before being substituted off ahead of the second half for Marcus Rashford. His performance would still be that of a player recovering from a big injury, but the important thing was that he was getting minutes and slowly working his way into the game plan of Hansi Flick.

BARCELONA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 22: Marc Bernal of FC Barcelona is challenged by Carlos Alvarez of Levante UD during the LaLiga EA Sports match between FC Barcelona and Levante UD at Spotify Camp Nou on February 22, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images)

As December and January went on, Bernal would get more minutes than he had before and start to work his way into a rhythm. After Pedri got injured in a match against Slavia Praha, Bernal saw his role increase further, becoming a frequent starter in place of the Spanish midfielder.

The now 18-year-old would start in games against Albacete, Levante, and Villarreal, but his real break would come in a stint off the bench against Mallorca. Brought on in the 67th minute for Dani Olmo, Bernal would provide two key passes and create one big chance, but the real breakout moment came in the 83rd minute. Bernal would burst through into space, run past Mallorca defender Martín Valjent, fake out Pablo Maffeo, and drill one home past Leo Román in the Mallorca net for his first-ever Barcelona goal.

Bernal wouldn’t have to wait long for his second. Two weeks later, against Levante, Barcelona would win a free kick in the fourth minute. Joao Cancelo would pass it wide to Eric Garcia, who would then play it into space, finding the foot of the 18-year-old midfielder, who stretched with the entire length of his leg and tapped it home. This would be Bernal’s time to shine.

A Majestic Performance Against Atleti

Finally, Bernal’s magnum opus would come on March 3, 2026. With Barcelona down four against Atleti and Bernal starting to replace the now-injured Frenkie de Jong, nobody expected the midfielder to play a crucial role in the comeback attempt, but that’s exactly what he did.

In minute 29, Bernal found himself on the end of a magical dribble and pass from Lamine Yamal and put it into an empty net to open the scoring for the Blaugrana. 50 minutes and 1 more goal later, Bernal got to a great João Cancelo cross in traffic to make it 3-0 on the night and get Barca one goal away from leveling it.

While Barca never would get that fourth, the main character of the night was Bernal. The Spaniard put together a monumental performance, not just in goalscoring, but also in buildup play as the Blaugrana pushed the Rojiblancos to the absolute limit.

So, what is it about Bernal that makes him such a special talent?

Well, when you look at a Spanish defensive midfielder coming out of La Masia with forearms about the same diameter as a pencil, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to Sergio Busquets, arguably the greatest pivot player of all time, and the two have similarities.

Both players are very tall and provide a domineering presence to the midfield: Busquets at 6’2” and Bernal even taller at 6’4”. Both players are also incredibly composed on the ball and tactically minded, coming from their La Masia education.

However, Bernal has massively advanced Sergio Busquets’ comparatively one-dimensional game. Before becoming a holding midfielder, Bernal trained in La Masia as a winger and scored over 280 goals for the youth teams.

As a result, he has incredible dribbling ability and instinct for goals for someone of his height and position. Bernal likes to roam far more than Busquets did and loves getting in the box for free kicks and corners to provide a threat, something that has resulted in a goal three times already in the past three weeks.

As any 18-year-old would have, his game has some drawbacks. For being a holding midfielder, his defending is pretty average, and if left as a lone holding midfielder, he could end up isolating the back line with his forward runs or creating a chasm of space for the opposing team to exploit should he be out of position.

It also must be remembered that he did suffer an ACL injury, putting his knee’s structural integrity in question already. However, if it takes a year to get back to full skill level after returning from an ACL injury, how good will Bernal be a year after his return at the start of the 2026/27 season? Only time will tell. For now though, Bernal will be looking to help his team however they can as they look to add to their trophy collection this season after winning the Supercopa in January.

BILBAO, SPAIN – MARCH 07: Marc Bernal of FC Barcelona is challenged by Selton Sanchez of Athletic Club during the LaLiga EA Sports match between Athletic Club and FC Barcelona at Estadio de San Mames on March 07, 2026 in Bilbao, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Despite his drawbacks, Marc Bernal is a great young prospect, and as he continues to find his place in Hansi Flick’s squad, all football fans should follow his development eagerly. Bernal has the potential to become one of the best holding midfielders of this generation, and if his development continues to progress smoothly, there’s no reason to believe he won’t become one.