In the end, nobody could find out how he could stop Hansi Flick's FC Barcelona.
No, Barcelona has not yet achieved LaLiga mathematically, but that 28th league title is a matter of days after the Cla Klsico win on Sunday, the advantage of the Blaugrana pushed on top of the table to go to seven points with three rounds.
Sunday's 4-3 victory over Real Madrid achieved a sensational Clásico-Double in the competition, alongside Barcelona's two cup final victories at the expense of Madrid this season. In total, Barca achieved four wins and scored 16 goals against Madrid – results that did not play a small role in the departure of Carlo Ancelotti for the Brazilian track on Monday.
Barca can finish the track on Thursday in the Catalan derby against Espanyol – the site of the previous Title Triumph two years ago from the Blaugrana.
There are several factors why Barcelona will soon be celebrating an unexpected title Triumph. It is easy to forget that there were doubts about Flick's appointment on a two -year contract; The first German to go to the touchline since Udo Lattek in 1981 had taken Flick a year off from football after an indifferent two years that Die Mannschaft led, while Barca struggled mentally and physically during the last year of Xavi Hernandez's Rollercoaster Managerial Stint.
Flick took over a team that added Dani Olmo in a transfer of € 55 million, but few could have foreseen how La Masia products, holdovers of the “Palancas” insanity of 2022, and even arrivals from the Bartomeu era would reach new levels under the Heidelberg resident. Flick has received both the familiarity and the praise for his infallible dedication to a 4-2-3-1 formation, characterized by a wild risky high-line-one that almost cost his team in the Copa del Rey-final and cost them a berth in the Champions League final in München.
But to call this strategy “stubborn” or “impractical”, the point lacks. Barcelona does not act in pragmatism; The last two managers who even embraced it mildly, Xavi and Ernesto Valverde, did not complete three seasons in the club, in the midst of contempt of the Entorno who made his displeasure visible on the pages of sport or on the radio waves of RAC1.
Barcelona is not Barcelona without proactivity, idealism or intensity, qualities that – for some reason – had gradually disappeared over the past decade. That film rehabilitated this image in one season can be interpreted as bad news for everyone else.
Consider Real Madrid at a certain moment in Sunday's seven-goal thriller in Montjuic did not leave its half of the field 23 minutes and 53 seconds. Admittedly, this figure points to Madrid's season -hose inability to control the center of the park in the middle of the retirement of Toni Kroos. But it also talks about the resilience of Barcelona, ​​a group of players who are young enough not to know better. The Blaugrana did not give it to fall two goals on two Kylian Mbappé-strikings-network as they didn't care to go 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in the semi-final of Copa del Rey, or when they went 2-0 to Inter Milan in both feet of the Champions League Semis.
“The mentality of the team has improved a lot,” Pedri said after the game.
Pedri and Frenkie de Jong represent the preferred double pivot of Flick, the former game of injury -free, world -class football after three seasons of fitness struggles, the last benefited from injuries to the two Marcs, Bernal then Casado, to look more on the Ivan Raki successor.
But there are more success stories for them. Raphinha's Brace against Real Madrid took his goal from the season to 18, five more than combined in his first two seasons in Spain; The trust film in Raphinha immediately when the Barcelona's job has changed the career of the Brazilian. The “Share Time” agreement with Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres was a gamble that has paid off; Torres led the line professionally when Barca won the Copa del Rey, and he provided three first half of assists in the Clasico, while 36-year-old Lewandowski continued to recover from injury. It is still to be seen whether Lewa contributes to his 25 goals in the competition, his personal record since arrival in Spain.
Lamine Yamal … do you know how difficult this is for me, as an Atletico supporter? I received an 18 -month delay from Lionel Messi only for this threat to appear. He is literally the best dribbler in Europe, due to quantity and quality; He radiates charisma, he has unwavering trust and he is afraid of nothing. Lamine Yamal's equal goal on Sunday shows that he also improves as a Finisher – what prevents him from being the world's best player when he turns 18?
Even with the heroic deeds of Barcelona's Front Three, Real Madrid really had to make 90 minutes 4-4, but Castilla Call-up Victor Munoz missed up close, and led to hope of online abuse of ever-empathic Madridistas. In the meantime, Culers is of the opinion that the match should have ended 5-3 after Fermin Lopez had scored a crystal goal a few minutes after Munoz's Miss, but a new controversy arose after a “thank goodness” was heard in the VAR Room in the process to expel the goal for a Fermin handball. I love this era of conspiracy theories and massive distrust in which we live.
Yet these Clasico had it all -multiple VAR checks, another Mbappe -Hattrick in one of the biggest matches of football, Pau Cubarsi who played almost an hour through intense pain that was supplied by a belly bug, Gavi Kterte Raul Asencio in the final phase absolutely. But when Hernandez Hernandez's whistle blew for the last time, it served as a confirmation that in Laliga 2024/25 no one could find out how he could stop Hansi Flick's FC Barcelona.
Jeremy Beren can be found here on social media, and if you are hungry for more, you will find excellent work here.