Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'Catalans and winners'

Today, as on every cover of the ARA, the champion Barça is on the front page. If you're a Barça fan, put this analysis among those pieces that are good to hear today. If you're not a Barça fan or aren't interested in football, stay away; this championship contains lessons of collective achievement, for life and for the nation.

Barça has won the League, on an unexpected ten-month trip, very funny, very fresh, very authentic, exuberant.

They won against all odds. Mbappé's Madrid, another Florentino Pérez photo album, had to win it all. Well, we could say that Barça has personally taken it upon themselves to prevent it. Barça and Madrid have faced each other four times, and Barça has won all four.: both League matches, and both finals, of the Super Cup and the Cup.

The spotlight of today's celebration is focused on the figure of Lamine Yamal., and understandably so: he's 17 years old, and he has a level of play and personality on the pitch that's unusual for his age. Lamine Yamal is the admiration of football around the world. And with him, players as young and homegrown as Cubarsí, Fermín, Balde, Gerard Martín, Casadó, and Bernal, and people who came along when they were nobodies, like Pedri, and who are in contention for the Ballon d'Or podium.

Any analysis of this championship, or of this season of a treble of Spanish titles and with the Champions League trophy now a hair's breadth away from the final, must be guided by Hansi Flick, a sensible man who has managed to bring out the best in a squad that is gnawing at the hunger and inexperience of youth. Flick arrived at Barça thanks to Joan Laporta's once-again brilliant intuition, after his hesitations with Koeman and, above all, with Xavi, who today, it's worth remembering, also won La Liga two years ago. The reasons for criticizing the president's management still exist (the first of which is the need for democratic hygiene and accountability), but today is a day to congratulate the Barça president and to acknowledge that he has something to do with, and contributes to, the core of our analysis.

And the bottom line is this: this success is no coincidence. Between 1960 and 1991, in these thirty years, Barça won three league titles. One every ten years. Between 1991 and 2025, in these thirty-four years, Barça won 18 titles, one every two years. In other words, Cubarsí, Lamine, and company have found themselves a winning club. For thirty years, it wasn't so much. It was a huge struggle. Barça's history was a tragedy: the square sticks in Bern, the penalties in Seville, Quini's kidnapping, Maradona's hepatitis. Someone changed this tale of misfortune, and his name is Johan Cruyff. From him, from his character, from his vision, came Guardiola. The history of Barça that you've heard from these kids today is no longer ours, rather shrunken and fearful. They were born hearing about trebles and sextets, and they saw that one day on the Ballon d'Or podium there were three kids, just like them, made at La Masia: Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi. They grew up thinking they could win. This combination of continuous work at the youth academy and self-esteem has made Barça once again the club everyone is talking about. Because, once again, it's not just about what you win, but how you win. That mentality of winning excellence is what the country needs.

Good morning.