Real Madrid – FC Barcelona: La Masia wants to ridicule the Madrid Galacticos

“That’s La Masia”. These were the words of Hansi Flick after this resounding success (4-1) against Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier in the week. It must be said that even if Raphinha was logically named man of the match with this astonishing hat-trick, it is a success signed by La Masia, with 9 of the 16 players who set foot on the pitch having been trained within the Catalan club. And this has been a constant since the start of the season: the young Catalan players are shining and allowing their team to have a particularly good start to the season. After several years where Blaugrana fans were champing at the bit, between financial crisis and checkered results (especially in Europe), the sun is finally starting to come out on the side of the Condal City…

And at the same time, on the Madrid side, the number of players from Fabrica in the first team is plummeting from year to year… With the departures of Joselu and Nacho last summer, the injury of Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez was the only player from the starting training center against Borussia Dortmund. Real Madrid’s contribution to the Spanish selection is also increasingly weak, since there were only 4 at the Euro: Nacho, Carvajal and Joselu, as well as Alvaro Morata. Players who are over thirty and who don’t have many years left in them. An observation which clearly illustrates the different policies pursued within the two ogres of Spanish football.

Thank you crisis?

Of course, football is all about winning. And in recent years, the Madrilenians are well ahead of their sworn enemies at this level. It is therefore difficult to decry Madrid’s sports policy given the numerous titles won in recent times. We cannot say that Real Madrid does not give young people a chance, since many of them have been given responsibility at a relatively early age, like Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Valverde, Camavinga, and even players like Endrick or Arda Güler have relatively decent playing time. The Madrid club model therefore relies more on post-training: we will look for talents trained by other clubs, but at an early enough age so that they are not yet too expensive, and that they can still learn on the Madrid side. Barça also uses this policy, like the signings of Pedri or Ronald Araujo.

We can also say that if the Catalans are betting so much on young people, it is partly because of the financial crisis that the Barcelona institution is going through. Of course, the club has always trusted La Masia and training has always been one of the major axes around which the club articulates its project, but between the period which followed the golden age of the Pep Team (2008- 2012) and the start of the crisis a few years ago, the number of Masians had disappeared and the club had recruited enormously. In 2018, during a match against Celta, Ernesto Valverde, for example, fielded an eleven without any player trained at the club for the first time since 2002. It is obvious that a player of Lamine Yamal’s talent would have had his chance whatever whatever the era, the coach and the financial situation, but can the same be said for players like Marc Casado or Fermin Lopez? Not sure…

“Cantera contra cartera”

We must also highlight the leading role of Hansi Flick in this strong comeback of La Masia. Since his arrival, the German has given a chance to many players trained at the club, and beyond players who already have a leading role like Lamine Yamal, Cubarsi or even Marc Casado, we can cite players like Gerard Martin, Sergi Dominguez or Hector Fort. The former Bayern and German team player seems delighted with the contribution of his young players, and he follows very closely what is happening within Barça’s youth teams. It must be said that La Masia is perhaps more productive than ever and that many players are still likely to stand out in the coming years.

On the Madrid side, we continue to train quality players. To a lesser degree perhaps, but Fabrica remains effective. Nico Paz, sold to Como this summer, has for example already started in the Argentine selection and seems to be one of the best players to have come out of the Madrid academy for a while. We can also mention Miguel Gutierrez, who has become one of the best full-backs in Europe for Girona. But the doors are increasingly closed for these young people in Madrid, where they open with a red carpet in Barcelona. The Catalan media and fans have not finished boasting about this famous slogan “cantera contra cartera” (training vs portfolio, Editor’s note), used during the era of Xavi, Messi, Iniesta & co, and which is becoming reality again this season. Saturday evening, during the Clasico, it will therefore be much more than a simple duel between rivals, it will also be the opposition of two philosophies more different than ever. It is also an opportunity to silence, if there was still a need, those who claimed that La Masia was dead…

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