It has rained since that January 27, 2024, when, after being thrashed (3-5) against Villarreal at Montjuïc, Xavi Hernández hit rock bottom and announced at the post-match press conference that he would say goodbye to the bench "at the end of the season." There were still twists to come, such as the "sushi night at Joan Laporta's house, a tearful press conference from the president to ratify him in his post, and yet another final dramatic turn to fire him at the end of the season. The former bluegrana footballer and coach ended up parting ways with Laporta and his main advisor, Alejandro Echevarría, who, although he was the main supporter of his return in 2021, the coach also considers him one of the architects of his dismissal. Basically, he felt betrayed.

Anthony Gordon is the first signing for Barça for the third season with Hansi Flick. The 25-year-old English international footballer has reached an agreement with the Catalan club. This week, the Barça sporting director, Deco, has been in England negotiating with Newcastle United. The agreement between the three parties is now a fact and the footballer will sign his contract with Barça this Friday at 13:00 in the office of interim president Rafael Yuste. Afterwards, he will be presented at a press conference.

It's not just a Spanish squad without any Real Madrid players for the first time in World Cup history, it's also a squad full of Barcelona players – up to eight, a feat the white club has never achieved – with a marked anti-Madrid accent due to the historic rivalry between the two clubs. The list, which is still causing a stir, caused havoc in a Real Madrid fully immersed in an electoral process.

The adaptation of Joan Garcia went faster than they imagined, they confess to ARA from the heart of the Barça dressing room. There was a conviction within Hansi Flick's technical staff and the sporting management led by Deco that he would be a signing "for immediate performance", but the parameters recorded in the first training sessions confirmed the success. The German coach was quick to state in a press conference that Joan had come to be "number one" in goal, and thus ended any rumors about a dispute for the position with a Ter Stegen who would end up experiencing a ordeal with injuries.

In a very short time, two decades will have passed since Joan Laporta chose Pep Guardiola as first-team coach. Besides sporting a few more gray hairs, can you imagine how the path of our Barça would have been if José Mourinho had taken the reins of the bench? Laporta, with all his strengths and weaknesses, chose with his heart. And he was absolutely right. No one can doubt his intuition: Hansi Flick is the contemporary example. Guardiola arrived at the bench after winning the Third Division league with Barça Atlètic. A title that he has always made sure to highlight in an extensive and successful record that, if it doesn't make him the best coach in history (for the one writing these lines, he is), it's close.

The staging in Vitoria was not bad, despite the team coming from the sweet hangover of Monday's parade through the streets of a Barcelona that was filled with hope. A Barça full of substitutes started with energy, but when you change more than half of the starters, it's normal for things not to work out. Alavés, a rival with their backs to the wall and who gave the azulgranas a champion's guard of honor, secured three vital points to stay in the top flight thanks to a goal from Diabaté before halftime (1-0). There will be no 100-point League, a symbolic title that will remain in the hands of Tito Vilanova.

The flag of Palestine that Lamine Yamal waved for about five minutes from the bus of the Liga del Barça celebration was held by a fan who was following the parade for a while. The azulgrana star maintained a low profile during the party, until on Passeig de Gràcia, before reaching the parade stop right in front of Casa Batlló, he himself asked for the flag to be brought to him. He did not shy away from the cameras while waving it: many fans captured an image that ended up going around the world for its symbolic and political weight.

Barça is once again the League champion. In his second season as a blaugrana, Hansi Flick has achieved a historic feat that fills Barcelonism with pride: to crown the League against Real Madrid and, moreover, in a Camp Nou packed to the rafters that was a celebration from even before the start of the match. Barça once again rules the championship. Below, 10 key moments from the journey to the re-edition of the title.

Barça culminated a historic night to remember. The 2-0 victory allows the azulgranas to conquer the 29th League in their history, the second consecutive one since Hansi Flick's arrival at the bench. The Camp Nou experienced a night full of joy in what was a party from the first moment. Rashford and Ferran Torres put the 2-0 just after the start of the match against a Real Madrid that closed a week to forget —with internal fights included— seeing how the eternal rival won (and lifted) the League right in front of their noses.

Barça is once again the League champion. In his second season as a Blaugrana, Hansi Flick has achieved a historic feat that fills Barcelonism with pride: to put the finishing touch to the League against Real Madrid (2-0) and, moreover, in a Camp Nou packed to the rafters and which has been a party since even before the start of the match.

Real Madrid is experiencing an unprecedented sporting crisis, as to the poor results on the field of play has been added extreme tension in the locker room, with an exchange of reproaches and footballers who have come to blows. Fights in some training sessions may be within the norm, but what is not normal is that the discussions not only drag on over time, but also end up as the matter between Tchouaméni and Valverde did, with the Uruguayan – second captain of the white team – having to go to the hospital and the club announcing that he will be out for about two weeks due to a traumatic brain injury. All this, just a handful of days before visiting Camp Nou and seeing how Barça with a draw has enough to seal the League under the noses of the whites.

Champions. Barça put the finishing touch on the League in a match with a crazy ending at El Sadar (1-2) where everything that hadn't happened until then, happened. After 80 minutes in which the duel between the azulgranas and Osasuna had been quite soporific, everything accelerated thanks to the goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres. The two azulgrana strikers, questioned throughout the season, scored the goals that, if Real Madrid doesn't win at the RCDE Stadium today, will seal the League for Barça. When the title was already being celebrated on the Catalan bench, Raúl García, narrowing the gap, added spice to the end of the match in which the azulgranas defended the score with tooth and nail to feel virtually like winners of the championship that rewards the best team.

"Yes, we'll do the whole interview in Catalan. Of course," says Kika Nazareth (Lisbon, 2002), boldly. The Portuguese footballer doesn't lose energy or her contagious smile despite having participated in numerous events and interviews before a key match for Barça. On Sunday (4:30 PM, TV3), the azulgranas will play the second leg of the Champions semifinals against Bayern. She will play at the Camp Nou for the second time in her career and in her second season in Barcelona, a city she has fallen in love with, as well as Catalan culture and its language: "I play and live in Catalonia. I wanted to learn Catalan out of respect."

The Barça sporting management and Hansi Flick are preparing changes on the left flank next summer, specifically in defense. Under the German coach's instructions, the left-back position was basically occupied by Alejandro Balde and Gerard Martin in the Bayern ex-coach's first season in Barcelona, and in this second campaign, the protagonists in this lane remained the same until João Cancelo's arrival in the winter market. Gerard Martín's reconversion as a center-back, where he has managed to establish himself alongside Pau Cubarsí, combined with the Portuguese player's rapid adaptation – he has taken advantage of Balde's injury absence – has led to the player on loan from Al-Hilal starting in the last stretch of the season, at the expense of the defender who grew up in the Sant Martí de Provençals neighborhood.Cancelo's future is, at this moment, uncertain. While Flick is happy with his performance, his continuation at Barça depends on the club that owns him. The player's desire is to stay in Barcelona and sign for the Catalan club. He has conveyed this to his agent Jorge Mendes: he does not want to return to Al-Hilal. The Saudi club paid 25 million to Manchester City for his transfer two seasons ago, and at the blaugrana club, it is believed that he could be released for a figure around 15 million. It should also be taken into account that the war conflict in the Persian Gulf may negatively condition the football market in this area of the planet.

What was Joan Garcia doing holding a Brock string with one hand that went from his nose, to the center of his gaze, to one of the members of the Barça technical staff while he threw tennis balls at him? The exercise, recorded on video by the club's media and which went viral in the build-up to the Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Metropolitano, may be surprising to fans, but it is an increasingly common practice in the preparation of high-performance goalkeepers. These types of exercises are part of neurovisual training and have become – at Barça they have been practiced for several seasons now – an essential part of the goalkeepers' routine.

He himself barely expected it, when after chaining four consecutive substitutions in La Liga, Hansi Flick put him in as a starter against Betis. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, when it was the 15th matchday of La Liga, played in mid-December, and Roony was able to demonstrate his talent. At that time, the coach needed to rotate because the Blaugranas had hosted Atlético de Madrid at the Camp Nou four days earlier and, three days after their visit to Cartuja, they were hosting Eintracht. Furthermore, Raphinha was injured. One of the alternatives involved placing the very young Dro as an attacking midfielder – in January he would move to PSG – and keeping Lamine Yamal on the right. The chosen one, finally, was Roony and the winger from Rocafonda centered his position, playing as an attacking midfielder.

Just past the 40th minute of the league match between Barça and Celta this Wednesday, and almost simultaneously with the moment Lamine Yamal fell to the ground injured after scoring the only goal of the match, a Barça fan suffered cardiac arrest that chilled the atmosphere at the Camp Nou. A 56-year-old supporter collapsed in the stadium's side area. The match was interrupted to attend to the affected person, as per protocol in such cases.

With just over two weeks to go until the classic, Barça already knows it will have to play against Madrid and seal the league title without its biggest star. The results of the tests carried out this morning on Lamine Yamal have confirmed that he has a hamstring injury in his left leg and will miss the rest of the season - which ends on May 24 - with Barça. The statement also clarifies that it is "expected" that the footballer will be available for the World Cup and will undergo conservative treatment to recover.

A little more than two weeks before the classic, Barça takes for granted that it will have to seal a league title that cannot escape it in any way without its great star. We will have to wait for the tests that Lamine Yamal will undergo this Thursday, but with barely a month left until the end of the competition and with a World Cup just around the corner, the feelings at the end of the match against Celta did not invite optimism. With a penalty goal, just before suffering an injury to his left leg and the stadium freezing over because a fan suffered cardiac arrest, the Rocafonda winger did what will probably be his last service of the season for Barça. The victory (1-0) against Celta dyes the League a little more blaugrana on a complicated night at Camp Nou.