FC Barcelona reborn guided by a rising star

Lionel Messi’s photograph holding the baby Lamine Yamal on his lap running, when the young man began to stand out in the spotlight of the first team, being only 15 years old. The ‘touch of the magician’, as many nicknamed, is bearing fruit.

It was 2007 when, in a UNICEF campaign, Yamal’s family was chosen to have a photo shoot in Camp Nou, with a young Messi who was already in the mouths of the world. The Argentine took the baby and the rest is history.

Proof of this is the growth that FC Barcelona, ​​as well as the Spain selection, have had since the appearance of another young product of the famous ‘La Masia’, and promises to be ‘king’ of sport in the coming years after Messi and Ronaldo.

At 17 – reaches the age of adulthood on July 13 this year – Lamine Yamal already has in Palmarés with a European championship, at the service of the Spanish national team, in 2024, as well as a championship, a superstar and a glass of the king in the club.

In addition, it has beaten records after records, the result of the precocity with which it appeared in senior professional football and great international stages: it is a true phenomenon, both inside and outside the pitch, on social networks.

This week, FC Barcelona faced Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, with a 3-3 draw to leave everything open to the second duel, and with Lamine Yamal scoring one of the goals of an entertained game.

This goal made the Spaniard in the youngest footballer ever to score in numerous semi-finals of the millionaire race, and is also the holder of such a soccer European, the Spanish Championship, the King’s Cup and the history of the Catalan class.

But not only from Lamine Yamal lives this rise of FC Barcelona, ​​in a set where also the products of the Pau Cubarsrs, Baldé, Pedri or Casadó form, in a mix with the experience of Szczesny, Iñigo Martinez and Lewandowski.

At the height of his career seems to be Raphinha, a former Futebalist of Vitória de Guimarães and Sporting, who, at 28, is clearly a candidate for conquering the Golden Ball, and can have, as one of the main rivals, precisely colleague Lamine Yamal.

To cement this candidacy for the largest individual award, the tremendous time will be justified that the ‘Blaugrana’ are doing under the command of German Hansi Flick, a technician who led Bayern Munich to glory and seeking the same goal.

Already with the King’s Cup in his pocket-in a final against the great rival Real Madrid, 3-2, only resolved in extension-FC Barcelona leads the Spain Championship, with four points of advantage and five journeys yet to be played.

In addition, it is in the Champions League semi-finals and is applied for a historical ‘triplet’, a feat reached for two occasions, in 2008/09 and 2014/15, in the reign of Lionel Messi, the ‘Culés’ footballer between 2004/05 and 2020/21.

But not everything has been a sea of ​​roses in the last years for the Catalonia as a whole. Packed by a financial crisis, which led to Messi’s departure, due to the impossibility of paying his large salary, the club had to restructure.

Axle

Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned as president, after being discovered a loss of hundreds of millions of euros, and, following the departure of Messi, veterans Busquets, Jordi Alba or Piqué, among others, also ended up.

The last two seasons with Messi had already been complicated, starting with the historic rout suffered at the feet of Bayern Munich, in the 2019/20 Champions League quarters, 8-2 at the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon.

The Covid-19 pandemic did not help the party and, in 2020/21, FC Barcelona was again eliminated early on the eighth, against Paris Saint-Germain, a club that would hire the eight-time winner of the Golden Ball, Lionel Messi.

Joan Laporta again took over the club’s presidency, but the restructuring lasted some painful years, with consecutive decomotion to the Europa League, in which FC Barcelona disappointed, falling into the ‘rooms’ (2021/22) and ‘play-off’ (2022/23).

However, at national level the club was able to enter the axes by winning the championship in 2022/23, with the young ‘stars’ of the present one to appear in the team, but the international recognition was still missing.

The following year, with Messi in Inter Miami Americans, the Paris Saint-Germain Frenchmen became FC Barcelona’s ‘executioners’, in the Champions League’s final rooms, in a rivalry that may have a third ’round’.

The Gaul Set, which counts on the squad with the Portuguese Nuno Mendes, João Neves, Vitinha and Gonçalo Ramos, defeated the English of Arsenal in the first leg of the Champions League (1-0) semi-finals, following the advantage towards the final.

Second-hand meetings take place next Tuesday and Wednesday and the winners of their qualifiers complete the sports season in the final, scheduled for Allianz Arena in Munich, on May 31, at 20h00.