By: Gabriel León 🇻🇪
Image via Goal
I have been a FC Barcelona fan my entire life. There's something special about being a Barcelona fan, I distinctly remember getting my first Barcelona jersey from my cousin who studied abroad in Barcelona in the early 2000s during the start of Messi’s career and when Ronaldinho was the best player in the world.
Watching and being a fanatic of FC Barcelona has been a generational tradition for me and my family.
My father has also always been a massive fan of FC Barcelona and his brothers loved watching Maradona play. When they were growing up, Maradona was playing for Barcelona, so it became the de facto favorite team of my dad.
Additionally, I played soccer for about 15 years, all while idolizing the Blaugrana. Players like Messi, Neymar, and Pique made up a huge part of my childhood.
Although it pains me to admit, Real Madrid has 10 more Champions League trophies and nine more La Liga titles than us. Only counting trophies, they have a strong claim at being the best club in the world.
However, none of that matters to me because being a fan of FC Barcelona means so much more than just the trophies. It means saying “Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya,” and feeling part of Catalunya, a part of Spain that often seeks independence. This connection to Catalunya comes from the club culture at FC Barcelona.
Barcelona has always prided itself on fielding players from “La Masia,” or the club’s academy.
This element of fielding players that have come from the academy, most being natives to the city, makes you feel more proud of the lads on the pitch because you know that they’re living out their dream playing for their boyhood club.
Many of these players share the same passion for the club us fans have, something money simply can’t buy. Of the 14 players that either started or came off the bench in our 0-4 thrashing of Real Madrid a few weeks ago, eight of them came out of La Masia (Lamine Yamal, Marc Casado, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde, Iñaki Peña, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, and Pablo Gavi).
Image via Soccrates Images/GettyImages
I have watched this team lose 4-0 at Anfield in 2019, Ansu Fati tear his meniscus in 2020, Messi leaving us in 2021, and seen one of the best center-backs ever in Gerard Pique play striker. As hard as all of that was, this 2024/25 team plays like our 2015 team that won the Champions League with Messi, Neymar, and Suarez.
Of the 18 games we have played so far this season, we have only lost three, having a goal difference of +28 in La Liga, won nine games by three goals or more, and beat Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu 4-0. Our front three (Yamal, Lewandowski, and Raphinha) have a combined 57 G/A (goals and assists) through those 18 games.
This team truly is inspiring and has made the past few seasons of struggling to win away at Cadiz and having Frankfurt fans take over the Camp Nou as they knocked us out of the Europa League worth it.
All of this change seems to be down to our new manager, Hans-Dieter Flick. Although he beat us 8-2 as Bayern’s manager in the Champions League of 2020, he has come to Barcelona and led a team that has skyrocketed in form and exceeded all expectations.
He has put his trust back in La Masia while rejuvenating careers of veterans like Iñigo Martinez and Robert Lewandowski. As much as the players have performed incredibly, Flick deserves all the credit for the complete culture shift we have seen under his guidance at FC Barcelona.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the boys in red and blue, only time will tell if this is the start of a new era or a mere good run of games.
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