Lamine Yamal traveled to London by private jet accompanied by his closest circle. Like Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane, the Barcelona star had hopes of becoming the winner of a Ballon d'Orwhich the Briton would end up taking, and he would have to settle for the Kopa Trophy, which rewards the best talent under 21 years of age. It is the third consecutive year that Lamine has received this award, although in this edition he expected to take the Ballon d'Or and for it to be Pau Cubarsí, who declined to go to the gala when he became aware that he would not be awarded, who would receive the distinction. These are the five main reasons that explain why he finished behind Kane and Mbappé in the election based on the vote of one hundred journalists from one hundred different countries.

Barça and Real Madrid will face each other this Sunday night at Camp Nou (21:00, DAZN). Fate has willed that Lamine Yamal's first Clásico at Camp Nou coincides with the return of José Mourinho as the white team's manager to a stadium where he received an unforgettable 5-0 defeat in the culé memory and where he engaged in absolutely lamentable outbursts. The Portuguese coach, who will return to the blaugrana stronghold thirteen years later, will have the last-minute absence of Thibaut Courtois, who is suffering from the flu. The Ukrainian goalkeeper Illia Voloshyn has been called up to the squad in place of the Belgian. Another Ukrainian, Andriy Lunin, will start the match, despite Courtois having tried to be there until the last moment.

In a promotional video shared by Barça on its social media, Adeyemi and Gordon joke by pulling their shorts down below their waist: "That's how Lamine wears them," they joke. In another part, they show the video to Lamine Yamal, who laughs and replies: "Everyone will end up wearing them like that, you'll see. Well, everyone except Rodri." The Madrid-born midfielder is a rara avis in the elite football universe: he never wears extravagant looks, he doesn't dye his hair or get trendy or daring haircuts, he has no tattoos and he tucks his shirt into his shorts to play, like in more vintage football. He also has no social media.

The two most in-form teams in Europe, led by two coaches who honor football by weaving together offensive and highly entertaining teams, offered a spectacle at the Parc des Princes in which they poured their hearts and talent for 90 minutes at a very high pace. In the era of streaming, digital platforms, and on-demand content, a duel between PSG and Barça reminds us that live sports are an inexhaustible generator of raw emotions. The Blaugrana stood their ground at the home of the two-time European champion, even though Hansi Flick rested players like Rodri with Sunday's Clásico in mind. It was not to be (4-2), but the Champions League is not decided now; it is decided in May. The first defeat of the season arrived where it is hardest to win, at the stronghold of the reigning champion.

Barça overcomes Betis at the Cartuja in Seville (2-5) in a match that went wild at the start of the second half. No one until today had managed to scrape points at the home of the green-and-white team this season.

One of the keys to understanding the good performance of Hansi Flick's Barça, unstoppable in this third season of the German at the helm of the bench, is also the good atmosphere in the locker room. Sources consulted by ARA ensure that taking care of the mental health of the footballers is also a pillar for the coach.

The dribble prior to the 1-3 against Galatasaray that Lamine Yamal made went viral in a few minutes. Social media did not stop reproducing and expanding across the planet a fantasy play: a rabona on the run, with a bit of luck on the rebound, to make his defender dance and end up assisting Anthony Gordon. Social media is eager for these types of content: views multiply by the second, jumping from one device to another.

Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior will have to serve a four-match suspension due to his straight red card in the last La Liga matchday against Villarreal. This means he will miss the El Clásico against Barça at the Camp Nou on Sunday, October 25th.

There is no stadium or stage that intimidates Flick's Barça, which smiles with a sharp grin after counting all of this season's matches as victories: ten out of ten, the second in the Champions League. Nor did the Turkish hell of Galatasaray's stronghold, a team that lives by being strong at home, impress the Blaugrana, who responded to the whistles and local shouting by dominating the ball and signing a new comeback led by Lamine Yamal's assists (1-4).

"Naval, 71, arrived at FC Barcelona in 1972 –more than 54 years ago– and began working as the first team delegate in the 1986-87 season. He has lived with a great number of coaches and players, and has become a true institution. Four decades alongside the team, sharing the dressing room, experiences and moments that are part of the club's history. And still today, he is a key piece in the dressing room". This is how the commemoration act of Carles Naval's 40 years as first team delegate was summarized on the Barça website. More than half a life at the service of the club of his loves and for as long as his strength continues.

Barça has faced this first international break, lasting more than two weeks (16 days) and with up to 17 players called up –now there are 15, with the return of Eric and Raphinha– by their countries, with "constant and fluid" communication. This is done between departments and, especially, with the Spanish national team, which has the largest group of Barça players, and with "specific plans for each footballer who has not traveled with the national teams," they explain to ARA from the Ciutat Esportiva.

As ARA has learned, Manel del Río will cease to be the CEO of Barça. The executive, who has already communicated his resignation to president Joan Laporta, will leave the position at the end of this month. This Monday, Del Río said goodbye to the club's management committee and confirmed that he was leaving the post. The position of CEO remains, for the moment, vacant. Sergio Serrano, who has held the financial directorship of the organization since this season, will assume a good part of the functions for the time being. Sources consulted at the 'blaugrana' club assure that the departure is "by mutual agreement" and value Del Río's "great work". "We are beginning a new financial management and a new stage," they state to this newspaper from Barça's executive offices.

The Spanish national team call-ups at the beginning of last season caused a previously unheard-of event at Barça: Hansi Flick raised his voice in a press conference and was seen to be frankly annoyed. The star from Rocafonda started the season conditioned by a pubalgia that was bothering him, and this generated friction between the Barcelona coach and his counterpart in the Spanish national team, Luis de la Fuente. On Saturday, September 13, 2025, in the preview of a Barça-Valencia match, Flick exploded: "[Lamine] went to the Spanish national team with discomfort. He played both matches, 73 and 79 minutes, even though the team was winning by a landslide, with painkillers. He didn't train but he played. I don't think that is the way to take care of the players. I am very sad".

He had not trained as a centre-forward, but before the friendly against Basel, on August 16th, Hansi Flick told Raphinha that he would play for a while as a striker. Barça had not yet completely thrown in the towel on signing Julián Álvarez, Gabriel Jesus was, at that time, only a remote opportunity and Hamza Abdelkarim was the sensation of the pre-season. Before the friendly against the Swiss, however, the German conveyed to Raphinha that he would play "first as a nine and then as a winger". This is how the footballer explained it in a recent interview on RAC1.

While Kylian Mbappé justified running and pressing less than Raphinha or Ousmane Dembélé because he scores "more goals" than them, Lamine Yamal, in a public appearance at the press conference prior to the Barça-Feyenoord Champions League match, or Karim Adeyemi, in an interview with this newspaper, stated that attackers must also run. "We all have to run. If you don't run, you don't win," said the winger from Rocafonda. "We know what we have to do, and if we do it all together we are, as I have said, unstoppable, both with the ball and without it. Hansi wants this from us, so we give it our all, also in the press," assessed the German sprinter.

Xavi Hernández will debut in style as the new head coach of the Netherlands. The Dutch team faces the German national team this Thursday (8:45 PM) in a duel corresponding to the first matchday of the UEFA Nations League group stage. The German team also introduces a new coach on the scene: Jürgen Klopp. This competition will serve as the testing ground for the coach from Terrassa in international football, with the 2028 European Championship as the first major litmus test for a Dutch side that seeks to return to playing a recognizable brand of football, with the school of Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels as two of its greatest exponents, and to be competitive once again in major tournaments. "I want people to see a team with passion, ambition, intensity," Xavi stated in the pre-match press conference.

Hansi Flick explained to the press gathered at the training camp in Birmingham during the preseason that he did not expect to see his team performing at full capacity until after the international break, which will run from September 24th to October 6th. A summer marked by the World Cup, with more than a dozen blaugranas participating and up to eight playing until the final with the Spanish national team, as well as the arrival of new faces with the adaptation process that this implies, led the coach to express this concern. Mind you, he set a clear goal: to win the first eight matches until the break no matter what. On the verge of achieving the set goal, the blaugrana machinery is performing above expectations.

Barça has overcome Racing de Santander (7-2) with a scandalous rout and continues to count all its matches as victories: six in six matchdays. Below, some quick thoughts:

Karim Adeyemi (Munich, Germany, 2002) has quickly won over the Barcelona fans with his goals. Against Feyenoord, the fans chanted his name after he scored a screamer of the kind that makes you jump out of your seat. Against Levante, he scored the 2-4 when the team was having its worst moment. Today, against Racing (9:30 PM, DAZN) he is expected to start, although he states that Hansi Flick, the architect of his signing, keeps him engaged whether he starts or comes off the bench. Adeyemi also promises to learn Catalan and explains that, due to his origins in the Bavaria region, he has quickly grasped the uniqueness of the blaugrana fans and the people of Catalonia.

On Monday, in the lead-up to the Real Madrid - Inter Milan Champions League match, Kylian Mbappé was emphatic in stating that he considered he had done more to deserve it than anyone –"I have made history", he said– to take home the Ballon d'Or. The next day, much more cautious, Lamine Yamal stated, on the eve of the clash against Feyenoord, that winning it did not depend on him, despite considering that he had had a good enough season to receive the trophy, and that he does not plan to beg to take home the award that will be granted by the magazine France Footballon October 26th.