The happy days do not end in Barcelona. Hansi Flick’s side signed off a magnificent week by local rivals Espanyol in another powerful display — 32 minutes were enough for them to score three goals and seal the win.
Dani Olmo made the most of his return to the starting line-up by scoring two of the goals and reminding everyone of how impactful his signing has been — the Spain international has scored five times in five La Liga appearances so far. His brace puts Barcelona as the only side among the top-five European leagues with four players with five-plus goals so far this season.
5 – Barcelona are the only team with four different players to have scored at least five goals in Europe’s top five leagues this season: Robert Lewandowski (14), Raphinha Dias (7), Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo (5). Overwhelming. pic.twitter.com/hd8vMqHxoc
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 3, 2024
Yamal had another afternoon keeping fans on the edge of their seats during the first half, topping it off with a trivela (banana shot) assist to Olmo for the first goal. Raphinha completed the scoring for Barcelona, who were simply too much to contain for Espanyol during the first half.
Every player is in great form, the team has a wide range of weapons to punish opposition and Flick seems to have found his preferred line-up. La Masia’s new talent Marc Casado has deservedly settled into the team ahead of Frenkie de Jong. Casado had another impactful night, adding an assist to his stats for the season. He is on five so far. Barcelona are nine points above Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, with the current champions having a game in-hand.
The team behaved a bit like the game ended at half-time, though. They slowed down the tempo after the break and lost the grip of the game, with Espanyol finding a way through to cut a goal back thanks to Javi Puado. The visitors had two more disallowed goals due to offsides — they registered six in total — and Flick admitted he was not pleased with the second half.
Olmo celebrating on Sunday (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)
“Today I can accept it, it’s normal sometimes and we won,” Flick said in his post-match press conference. “But I told the players this was not enough; in the Champions League we need to be at another level. This season has been spectacular so far, and we want to stay like this.”
It certainly did not affect the mood at all in Montjuic, because Barcelona has been having a party for a week.
This is the club where exciting days have been possible to count over the last years. Now fans are rubbing their eyes after victories over Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and finally local rivals Espanyol. This was 11 days that encapsulated the transformation the club has experienced in a matter of months.
Ronald Araujo, one of the captains in the squad, set up a team lunch last Wednesday at the restaurant Masia Rosas, in the outskirts of Barcelona, to celebrate the latest results and keep the spirits high in the dressing room. On Thursday night, a smaller group of the squad also met up to celebrate Ansu Fati’s birthday. A week of excitement was fully unleashed after the 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“We need to brag about this!,” joked a Barcelona staff member when asked about the amount of players the club allowed in the mixed zone (the area where players give interviews post-match) after both big wins against Bayern and Madrid. “If we don’t make the best out of days like those, I don’t know when we will”.
Inside the dressing room, priorities were others. “Tres dias libres! Tres dias libres!” (three days off, three days off!), chanted the players at the Santiago Bernabeu dressing room, pushing Flick into letting them have an easy week. The German manager is understanding to an extent, and allowed only two.
Tres días libres 😎 pic.twitter.com/6GygrNajPo
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) October 26, 2024
Flick, however, decided to take no rest. The day after El Clasico, the 59-year-old headed on his own to the Johan Cruyff Stadium — where Barcelona Atletic play their games — and oversaw the second team getting a 1-1 draw against Barakaldo in Spain’s third tier.
While the city was celebrating, Flick kept working. This is another example of how much being an outsider to the environment has helped the manager. Not just into not getting too carried away — but also impressing every Barcelona fan by his commitment to the job.
The cherry on top, however, was the Ballon d’Or gala.
Olmo, Yamal and Cubasi at the Ballon d’Or ceremony (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
“Vinicius Balon de playa!”, the Barcelona fans sang in the stands during the game against Espanyol — alluding that the Madrid winger had won a beach ball instead of the Ballon d’Or.
“Witnessing all what happened with Real Madrid, the reaction when they realized Vinicius was not winning the award, the approach they took on a PR level and everything just two days after our win there… It felt even more harmful than if we had scored a fifth at the Bernabeu”, a Barcelona dressing room source, who wishes to remain anonymous, conceded to The Athletic during the week.
Joan Laporta and the club did everything they could to capitalise on it.
Barcelona replicated the 2010’s Ballon d’Or podium formed by Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta in women’s football — Aitana Bonmati, Caroline Graham Hansen and Salma Paralluelo. Laporta came up to the stage at the gala and did not need one second to highlight how much of “a great honour” it was to be present at the ceremony. This was, of course, in contrast with Madrid’s absence when Vinicius Jr did not win the main award. Lamine Yamal won the Kopa Trophy and ended his speech with a “visca el Barca” (come on Barca), fueling the president’s happiness.
“Just the fact of being here is already a big pleasure for us”, Barcelona teenager Pau Cubasi stated at the event’s mixed zone. He also traveled to the gala despite not being among the winners. This was another cheeky wink.
Even Rodri, during his speech after being crowned as Ballon d’Or winner, named Yamal as the next winner in line and left Vinicius Jr without a single mention.
It’s simply been a week in dreamland for the Catalan club. The financial struggles might not be over soon, but as La Masia flexes its muscle and the institution gets recognized at the biggest stage, Barcelona have reasons to feel their fantasy can just keep going.
(Photo: Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)
