FC Barcelona fielded eight graduates of their youth academy in their astonishing 4-0 El Clásico win over Real Madrid. Read on as we profile all eight of the La Masia products and reflect on their journeys ahead.
Profiling FC Barcelona’s Eight La Masia Graduates That Won El Clásico
A Day That Will Live Long In The Memory
Everyone knew FC Barcelona’s young players were good. But after last weekend’s El Clásico demolition of Real Madrid, it appears this crop is really good. Maybe even generationally good. Los Culers tore through Madrid, putting four past their greatest rivals in their own backyard. Eight La Masia products contributed to this historic feat, some older than others and some who once left and have since come back.
The club have been somewhat forced to delve into their youth academy resource bucket in recent years due to the financial situation it finds itself in. Unable to compete with the big competitors for the signatures of the world’s best players, Barça have had to trust their in-house system to fill the first team squad with players barely old enough to (or are still too young to) buy a beer.
The Starboys
It would be remiss not to start with the recently crowned Kopa Trophy winner, Lamine Yamal. Born in 2007, Yamal was picked by former coach Xavi Hernández to train with first-team players when he was just 15 years old. It was before his 16th birthday when he made his first-team debut, becoming the club’s youngest player in over a century.
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Since then, Yamal’s improvement has been exponential. He was part of the squad that won the 2022/23 La Liga title, and last season he became a fixture on Barcelona’s right wing. Those around the world who weren’t already aware of his brilliance were made to see what they had missed out on during Euro 2024 in the summer. Yamal, who only turned 17 the day before the final, shined throughout, winning the young player of the tournament (but was a strong contender for best player too).
Career highlight so far: Scoring the equalising goal from outside of the box against France in the Euro 2024 semi-finals.
The other of Barça’s 2007 prospects on the field at the Bernabéu was Pau Cubarsí. The baby-faced centre-back has had a remarkable calendar year that has seen him thrust into elite-level football. He made his first team debut in January of this year, but by March he was already collecting Player of the Match trophies in Champions League knockout games.
His ability to play in such a mature way in a position that usually requires experience and years of understanding the game is simply remarkable. He has shown his strengths in one-on-one situations, in his extraordinary range of passing, and in his capability of marshalling a high line.
Career highlight so far: Winning the Player of the Match in the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Napoli.
Those Who Left And Came Back
One player who club President Joan Laporta was willing to spend money on this summer was Dani Olmo. Interestingly, after leaving Barcelona at age 16, he didn’t go to one of Europe’s big leagues, heading instead to Croatia. There at Dinamo Zagreb, Olmo worked his way into the first team and helped to win five league titles during his time there.
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He went from strength to strength when he signed for RB Leipzig, winning back-to-back German cups and reaching the Champions League semi-finals. With the Spanish national team, he has been a key figure in the squads that won the Nations League and European Championship – his performances sometimes going underappreciated by the Spanish media because of not playing in Spain. Now back at Barcelona, Olmo is definitely on everyone’s radar as he hopes to help his team win a La Liga title this season.
Career highlight so far: Scoring a hat-trick in the German Super Cup, beating Bayern Munich 3-0 to win the trophy.
One way for players to get their opportunity is down to the misfortune of a teammate’s injury. This is the case for the man who kept a clean sheet at the weekend, Iñaki Peña. Currently in the team due to Marc-André ter Stegen’s long-term knee injury, the 25-year-old has been patient in his Barcelona career so far.
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Although he only briefly left the club to go out on loan to Galatasaray SK for six months, it appeared to help as he was given his first-team debut for Barça shortly after his return. Many question marks have been raised over his ability to be a reliable second-choice goalkeeper, but it will be performances like the one at the Bernabéu that will keep the doubters quiet.
Career highlight so far: Keeping a clean sheet in El Clásico as Barcelona beat Real Madrid 4-0 at the Bernabéu.
Another player who had to go out on loan before getting his moment in the Barcelona first-team is Fermín López. The 21-year-old had a stellar campaign on loan at Linares Deportivo of the third tier in 2022/23. Last term, he was given an opportunity in the first team and has yet to look back since. His latest contract keeps him at Barça until 2027 with a buyout clause of €400 million with rumours of an even larger contract on the way.
There will be few summers of international football quite like the one just experienced by Fermín. Alongside his teammate Álex Baena, they became only the second and third players in history to win the European Championships and Olympic gold in the same year. Although he only played 28 minutes at the Euros, it was his six goals at the Olympics that had many considering him as the tournament’s best player.
Career highlight so far: Scoring two goals in the Gold Medal Match at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics to defeat France.
Homegrown Heroes
Just two months ago, barely anyone outside of Spanish third-tier football had heard of Marc Casadó. Twelve games into this season, he has already proven himself to be a player worthy of a place in Barcelona’s midfield. Casadó is another of those whose opportunity has arisen via someone else’s misfortune (this time taking the place of fellow La Masia graduate Marc Bernal).
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The captain of Barça Atletic (Barcelona B) last season, he produced stunning back-to-back performances against Europe’s elite last week. The 21-year-old backed up bossing Bayern Munich’s midfield about with an El Clásico recital to boot. Might he be the deep-lying pivot that La Blaugrana have been missing since Sergio Busquets’ departure?
Career highlight so far: Providing an assist for Barcelona’s third goal in their 4-1 thumping of Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Just to add a bit of bite to this otherwise technically easy-on-the-eye group of talent is Gavi. Born in fiery Seville, he really does play with a knife between his teeth. His first involvement in El Clásico was to bundle about and wrestle a few Real Madrid players to the ground. The 2004-born starlet had his season cut unjustly short in November of last year when on international duty with Spain. If it wasn’t for that, who knows what we would be saying about this already hugely impressive player?
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He’ll be keen to make an impact, now fit, in order to regain his place in an increasingly competitive midfield. But Gavi will need to be careful he doesn’t return too aggressively too quickly or his impact will be limited from the physio room. A massively popular figure in his club and country’s dressing rooms, there’s no doubt he has a great future ahead of him.
Career highlight so far: Scoring a goal plus providing two assists to be named Player of the Match in a 3-1 victory to win the Spanish Supercopa over Real Madrid.
Last, but certainly not least, on this list is Alejandro Balde. Another one of the 2003-born crew, the left-back’s Barcelona career crossed over with the end of club legend Jordi Alba’s. Having learnt from the best, many dubbed Blade as Alba’s long-term successor – a tagline he was certainly capable of fulfilling.
However, in January of this year, he suffered a hamstring injury that required surgery, which has since left his involvement in the team somewhat inconsistent. Under Hansi Flick, he has had a resurgence that meant the club didn’t need to sign last season’s loanee João Cancelo on a permanent deal.
Career highlight so far: Playing for Spain at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
Those Injured And On The Bench
It’s worth keeping in mind that the academy graduates in this Barcelona squad extend beyond those who featured in El Clásico. On the bench in that game were seven unused substitutes from La Masia, including the likes of Ansu Fati and Pablo Torre. As well as those, Marc Bernal and Eric García were ruled out of this game with injuries – two more products of the youth system.
The emergence of these beacons of hope has perhaps been the result of monumental mismanagement from the Josep Bartomeu presidential era that left the club strapped for cash. But it has proven, yet again, that FC Barcelona still have the strongest youth academy in world football, built on the foundations of an institutionalised philosophy that runs deep throughout the core of the club.
