While Xavi says that he has been in the position of coach longer than he has left to sit on the bench, at Barcelona any future time is better than the present. After losing two titles in less than two weeks, the coach seems determined in each appearance to say a long goodbye despite the fact that the board insists that he not throw in the towel, since he is the driver who guides the new era. “They tell me to have complete confidence and to forget not to continue. That the important thing is the project and things are being done well,” he revealed. That project is the reconstruction of the team to return Barça to the top. In that sense, the emergence of the generation of 2006 and 2007 is a blessing. “People from home are more prepared than those who come from abroad. I try to make them even less afraid,” he explains about the management of the youth players.
In Wednesday’s Cup match in San Mamés, Lamine Yamal, Héctor Fort, Cubarsí and Marc Guiu played prominently. The match can go down in history as did the Betis-Barça match on October 7, 1995 for the Quinta del Mini. That day Roger, Toni Velamazán and Moreno played as starters – the first two scored – plus Celades and De la Peña, who also found the net. In a detail that defines the current moment, Cruyff’s team won 1-5 but Xavi’s team was eliminated (4-2 in extra time). “It is the beginning of something important. I see a batch to consolidate,” says the coach. Three of them were not born when the club won the 2006 Champions League. Guiu, the oldest, was four months old.
The youngest is the jewel. Xavi made the winger debut at the age of 15, and this year, after a great Gamper, he is one of the first team with 29 games and almost 1,500 minutes. Raised in the Rocafonda neighborhood (Mataró), the left-hander has skipped several steps with his football, to the point that he is already an absolute international. He has scored in the League, in the Super Cup and in the Cup, and his teammates are looking for him. He was already the best against Betis and in San Mamés, where he was able to avoid extra time. “It says a lot about Lamine that he feels responsible when he is not. He was about to decide the match. You have to respect him and praise him for what he is doing,” defends Xavi.
Having Nico and Iñaki Williams in front of you is an ordeal for any First Division defense. Fort, from Barcelona from Les Corts, important in the reserve team despite being a youth player, held his own in the duels. And he played left back (like in Barbastro, where he gave an assist) when he is right-footed (there he played in Antwerp). “It was exceptional. Héctor can play on the left, on the right and in the center. He sees the pass well and does not lose the ball. Physically strong, he is a made player,” the coach defines him.
A native of L’Estanyol (Gironés), he is one of the treasures of La Masia since he arrived in 2018. He is a center back with an imposing physique (1.84 meters), something that was missed in Bartra or Muniesa. He just turned 17 and has the personality to not tremble in the face of any challenge, not even with the ball at his feet. “Almost all the balls were played forward. The second goal against Betis came from him because he looked for and found Frenkie de Jong,” highlights the Egarense.
He is the only one of legal age, since January 4. Finishing forward, with the goal between his eyebrows, who needs half a meter to touch the goal. He showed it in his debut against Athletic in the League (1-0) and almost saved a point in Antwerp (3-2). He had one chance in Salamanca and another in San Mamés, because in the area he moves incredibly, partly because of his body. His love affair with the goal made Xavi prefer him to Vitor Roque. “It was a tactical decision,” confirms the coach.
It was the discovery of the preseason. The Huelva interior, small, became big in Linares, where it was on loan last year. He is not from the same generation – but from Balde, Marc Casadó or Àlex Valle – but Xavi saw him and was captivated by his desire and shot him. In the center of the field awaits an organizer like Pau Prim (February 2006), who already played in the friendlies against Vissel Kobe and América.