The recital that Szczęsny insisted on leaving in the background

Barcelona"Pedri was the MVP, but I think I can take half the trophy," said Wojciech Szczęsny in Lisbon with the confidence of an extraordinary player after completing His best game since wearing the Barça shirt. The goalkeeper, who had already excelled in a first stoppage of merit just seconds after the start, kept the team unbeaten in a duel in which Barça played 68 minutes with one man down after Pau Cubarsí was sent off. Barça broke the record for winning a match playing more minutes with one less player, surpassing the feat achieved by Juve at Valencia in 2018, when Cristiano was sent off in the 29th minute. Curiously, in that 0-2 the goalkeeper was also Szczęsny.

The eight stoppages, five of them of merit, the 67 interventions and the effectiveness in all the actions in which he participated would have made him worthy of the award for best player. In fact, in most specialized statistics portals they give him very high performance scores. But UEFA set its sights on someone else. Because, apart from the goalkeeper, Raphinha Dias' accuracy in scoring or the good team play to survive in Benfica's half with fewer players, Pedri shone in the middle of the field.

The day the team needed to exaggerate the control, have possession and not give away balls, the Canary Islander appeared in all his splendor. He was the best in almost all individual records. Starting with the kilometers covered: 13.2 of the 112.4 that the Barça players did in Da Luz, according to data from Catalunya Ràdio's TdT. Behind him was Raphinha with 11.6. Pedri was also the one who intervened the most in the entire match: 92 times. He was also the player who recovered the most balls (11), had the best percentage of completed passes (60 out of 65 attempts, 92.3%), made the most passes in the final third of the field (16), crossed the most times (4) and, together with Raphinha, created the most chances (2). To these figures we must add two cuts and four fouls caused. He ended up absolutely exhausted, making it clear that the physical strain had been enormous. "We knew that we would need to help the team and run as fast as anyone else," he said, tired but happy, with the MVP award in his fingers.

Pedri's powerful life change

This is a new Pierre. Nothing to do with that player who was plagued by muscular problems. The midfielder had been the victim of overuse in his first year at Barça, in which he played absolutely everything with the first team – then coached by Ronald Koeman – and with the national team. Eurocup and Olympic Games included. The result was a succession of injuries that made one fear the worst. He was not helped by an undisciplined lifestyle off the pitch either. "Last season was awful. He didn't take care of himself, he went out partying...", they admit from the club.

This year is different and the same sources speak of a radical change in all aspects: "He is serious and focused, with a different order of life." He was greatly helped by a personalized genetic study that set the guidelines for how he should train, work and eat. "He is at a brutal level and we are very happy to have him," said Hansi Flick. The arrival of the German and the change of routines, both in training and in everyday life, have also contributed to this.

This season he has played 40 games with Barça, 38 of them as a starter, he has scored five goals and provided six assists. Flick has made him participate in absolutely all possible games, except for the league game at Mestalla, in which he was absent due to gastroenteritis. The 40 games are more than he played in the last three full seasons (22, 35 and 34, respectively). He has already played 3,012 minutes. And he is only 507 away from equalling the number he played in his debut season, 2020/21, when he played 52 games for Barça. The best Pedri is back.