Lamin Yamal and the new leadership of Barcelona | Football | Sport

In Barcelona you cannot break the rules of coexistence. Hansi Flick first warned Hector Fort, then pointed to Frenkie de Jong and finally punished Kounde, who came on as a substitute against Alaves. All three corrected being late for a technical talk.

Nobody is complaining.

At Barcelona you can’t spare any effort in training. Hansi Flick held several working sessions lasting more than two hours.

Nobody is complaining.

In Barcelona, ​​on the other hand, you can have fun. “I don’t want to spoil the serious image, but it has its moments,” said Dani Olmo. Strict in locker room rules, intense in training, the German coach gives freedom to the locker room. However, everything depends on the leadership of Raphinha, Inigo Martinez and Araujo, a far cry from the dogmatic Lewandowski and Gundogan who proclaimed themselves leaders last season; Not to mention the comparison with the era of the untouchable and distant Messi, Luis Suarez and company.

And everyone celebrates this.

This Wednesday, to celebrate the successes of the past week – victories over Sevilla, Bayern and Madrid – and to prepare for the derby against Espanyol, the Barça team organized a lunch. Idea? From Araujo and Rafinha. Last year, when it was necessary to organize a group after the dismissal of Xavi Hernandez, the ideologist of the meeting was Robert Lewandowski.

Lewandowski retains his strength on the pitch perhaps more than at any time since he arrived at Barcelona. However, he no longer breaks into the locker room and points fingers at his teammates, on the contrary. Last year, his tantrums with Lamin Yamal went beyond the walls of the locker room, probably due to the Pole’s confrontation with staff Javi Hernandez.

The intransigent Gundogan, for his part, took it upon himself to highlight the differences. “I prefer to keep what I think to myself. There are values ​​and rules of the dressing room that I think must be respected,” Araujo complained after the German pointed out in front of the microphones his mistake, that is, his sending off, against PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In any case, the dressing room acquitted Gundogan. “It came from somewhere else, from a different culture,” one of the leaders of last year’s team argued then. Lewandowski is a different case.

Lewandowski, according to dressing room sources, views his scoring drought as worse than his team’s negative run. Last year, when Javi Hernandez’s team suffered fiasco after fiasco and he was on his guard, he began to look for the culprits. One of them is Lamin Yamal. “He could become a monster,” he complained about the exponential fame of Barcelona’s young gem. Everything changed this year. “The Pole is not a fool. After the Euro and, above all, when he saw everything that Lamin does and creates, he knows that it is impossible to fight him. He knows that he should be next to him,” emphasizes the sports department employee.

You can often see Lewandowski joking with Lamine Yamal, who is, in any case, always more protective of Raphinha. “I have no doubt he will go far, he is my child. I have already seen its quality since the first year of my arrival. You just had to wait to see its magic. He is one of the best in the world and will remain so for many years,” the Brazilian winger praises him. Rafinha protects Lamin, Lamin protects his group.

Pedigree Lamin Yamal (17 years old) is growing in the squad, the leader of the youngest group: Ansu Fati (22 years old), Alejandro Balde (21 years old), Pau Kubarsi (17 years old), Casado (21 years old), Pau Victor (22 years old) , Pablo Torre (21 years old), Fermin (21 years old) and the Fernandez cousins ​​(16 years old), who bounce between the reserve team and the main team. “We have a lot of young people. In quotes it looks like a school. We understand each other very well, we like the same things, the same music. Lamin has been a DJ lately. We leave it, but it’s somehow free. We have to change,” Balde laughs. Although Lamin Yamal loves rap (Morad, for example, although due to his father’s influence he also listens to Eminem) and adds Argentine trap artists like Duki and Bizarrap to his roster, in the locker room he favors reggaeton and Brazilian music. . it sounds like Fine written by Dennis DJ and still insists on There’s Lupita Lomiel, the success of the La Roja dressing room in Germany. Alejandro Balde, in any case, at times robs Lamine of the right to decide what music to listen to in the Barça dressing room. Has a playlist on Spotify, My game day songs.

Closer to the group consisting of Pedri (21), Ferran Torres (24), Eric Garcia (23), Iñaki Peña (25), Dani Olmo (26) and Araujo (25), Gavi (20) also claims his leading role music in the locker room. He has a different style. Away from the Generation Z championed by Lamin and Balde, the Los Palacios midfielder counts ’80s hits with Michael Jackson, Queen and The Police among his favourites. While the Lamine Yamal group is supervised by Rafinha (27), the Gavi group is controlled by Inigo Martinez (33). “It’s important that young people feel supported by older people, and that’s what I do. I try to help everyone, veterans, youth, staff…,” says the Brazilian. The position is almost identical to that of the Basque central defender: “We try to contribute and help as much as possible to the young people who come, so that they feel comfortable and show the level necessary to play for Barcelona.”

“The relationship between Iñigo and Gavi is amazing,” recalls a club employee. There is no better example than when Inigo accompanied Gavi by car from Valladolid to Madrid on the night the Barca youngster tore his ligament. Rafinha and Inigo Martinez created a bridge between youth and veterans, always taking care not to neglect the group of youth led by Ter Stegen (32 years old), complemented by Lewandowski (36 years old), Kounde (25 years old), De Jong (27 years old) and Christensen (28), now with Szczesny (34) as a starter.

The leadership of Iñigo Martinez and Rafinha is similar to that carried out by Rodri and Morata during the EuroCup with youth, among whom Lamin Yamal also stood out. “They don’t judge them. They let them be. But when the time comes to give a pinch, they give it,” explains the Spanish federation’s attitude towards pesos to La Roja Lamine, Nico and company.

Luis de la Fuente’s strategy of Morata and Rodri controlling, caring for and pampering the youngest worked for Spain in Germany. He tamed Lewandowski and Hansi Flick, too, for now. Rafinha and Inigo allowed Lamina Yamal to fly onto the pitch and play music in the dressing room. Nobody is complaining. Everyone celebrates this.