Hansi Flick needed to revolutionize the team after two consecutive defeats. With a week of rest and facing the visit of Alavés, a much less significant rival, Barça had the opportunity to rediscover victory and regain a confidence that seemed to have been lost. In the same way that the dressing room had dazzled everyone with eleven consecutive wins –most of them by a landslide–, the stumbles against PSG and Real Madrid were a dose of humility for everyone, a way to remember that the work is not yet done and that they will have to strive until the end if they want to win silverware this year too.

Restorative thrashing by Barça against Alavés in the League. The Blaugrana recovered from the defeats against PSG and Madrid with a tennis score (6-1). Below, some hot takes.

Five months later, Frenkie de Jong returned to the scene. The last time he had been seen defending the Barça crest was at Mestalla, on May 23, on the matchday that closed the League. Against Real Madrid, he stepped back onto the pitch to play the last 15 minutes of a match with urgent needs on the scoreboard. He did so to play as an interior midfielder, even though Hansi Flick had made him train as a center-back, due to the avalanche of injuries in the defense. In fact, De Jong is very likely to pair up today with Pau Cubarsí in the heart of the defense against Alavés (9 PM, Movistar).

After a week of dragging doubts due to the two consecutive defeats against PSG and Real Madrid, Hansi Flick's Barça heart started beating again in the best way it knows how: with goals (6-1). The inexhaustible faith of Fermín López once again guided the Blaugrana to the path of triumph and, for another matchday, the team will continue as leaders of La Liga.

Aleksander Sekulic's Barça has the measure of Xavi Albert's Valencia (98-94). The blue and garnet team, boosted by the Palau and the decisive three-pointers from Joel Parra –four in a row in the third quarter– signed a hard-fought third consecutive win against a rival that missed Nikola Mirotic, an old acquaintance of the Barça fans.

Mariano Díaz (Premià de Mar, 33 years old) has once again found his place in elite football. After years marked by injuries, a lack of minutes, and a career defined by inconsistency, the Alavés striker has regained his prominence in Vitoria. The club was open to a possible departure in the summer, but Mariano did not want to leave. A few months later, the Dominican Republic international has accumulated three goals and four assists this start of the championship.

With 19.1 million in revenue from ticket sales, Sunday's Barça-Madrid El Clásico became the highest-grossing match in Camp Nou history. Never before had a single match generated so much money. And it wasn't just the seats and the VIP products. We must also add the additional 1.5 million collected at the stadium shop over the weekend. The result on the pitch was not what the fans wanted, but the club was licking its wounds thinking about a business model that might be unpopular, but is clearly effective.

The lack of "freshness" is, according to Hansi Flick, one of the reasons for Barça's defeats against PSG and Real Madrid. This is the reason the German coach said was behind the 4-2 in Paris and the 1-2 at the Camp Nou in the Clásico. A reason which, despite constantly insisting that he does not like excuses, he associates with the troubled return trip from Seville, where the 'azulgrana' team played a League duel against Betis (2-5). Due to the rainstorm that affected Barcelona and its surroundings last October 17, the 'azulgrana' expedition, which was scheduled to return home on a charter flight past ten o'clock at night, could not take off and ended up spending the night in the Andalusian capital by express order of Flick himself. Players and staff got off the plane, slept in a hotel, the next day they returned to Catalonia and two days later they flew to Paris. Too much wear and tear on the body.

The PSG-Classic sequence has turned a green meadow into a muddy field. We are very predictable: four days ago everything was roses and sunshine, and suddenly, doubts have invaded us. We won't discover the 'Culer' drama or the grandstanding syndrome of “defending like this we won't win the Champions League.” If even Pep Guardiola had his stylistic details questioned, what won't happen to Hansi Flick. It is curious, however, how his exuberant offensive discourse is fully accepted, while he is criticized for taking risks at the back, when both are sides of the same coin. That in the 87th minute Real Madrid kills you on a counterattack because you are looking for the winning goal is better than stalling to preserve a 1-1 draw. This should be indisputable unless you are an Atlético de Madrid fan. By the way: how many Champions Leagues has Cholo Simeone won? Right.

It was close to midnight. The Camp Nou stands had been empty of fans for some time. Only the media, club staff and some members of the Barça dressing room were still at the stadium. On the other hand, there was movement on the esplanade, next to the Palau Blaugrana, where a large VIP tent had recently been set up. Music, laughter and a good atmosphere. It didn't seem to matter much to them that Real Madrid had won the Clásico. Probably, very few were unconditional followers of the blue and garnet team, even though they were dressed from head to toe in jerseys, scarves and all sorts of Barça merchandise.

Painful defeat for Barça against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou (1-2). It is the second consecutive one the blaugrana team has suffered in a few days. Below, some hot takes.

Madrid clipped the wings of Flick's Barça by winning a Clásico that José Mourinho's men took thanks to two goals from Mbappé, the second in the final stages of a frustrating match for Flick's men, who never felt comfortable on the pitch. The players' faces showed anger, aware that the possibility of signing the best start in the entire League was slipping away from them. Mourinho, on the other hand, got his way and leaves reinforced from a stadium where he could have been hurt. But it was not a good game for a too-agitated Barça that was left wanting more in the second half, when at times it seemed they would turn the score around. Quite the opposite. Three minutes from the end, Mbappé left the stadium frozen. And the one who celebrated big was Mourinho.

History is full of moments in which a detail can change everything. In 2008, José Mourinho came to believe that he would be the new coach of Barça, a club where he had already worked and of which he had great memories at the time. That year, the Portuguese man already saw himself returning to a city of which he only said good things. Furthermore, he did not hide that he loved the club that today, life's ironies, has become his greatest rival. Eighteen years later, Mou returns to Barcelona. He returns to the Camp Nou. The stadium where they have whistled at him and jeered him, where he poked Tito Vilanova in the eye, where he has chased referees and run across the pitch between sprinklers celebrating a great success with Inter. The stadium where he could have been loved if things had gone differently that year in 2008.

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 great national football classic returns this Sunday to the Spotify Camp Nou with the duel between Barça and Real Madrid. The match will mark the return of José Mourinho to the stadium where many years ago he was part of the blaugrana technical staff and later became a rival with very heated duels when he worked at Chelsea, Inter, or Madrid itself. Marc Cucurella also returns to the Camp Nou, the Catalan player trained at Barça who now plays for the white club.

If anyone wants to go on Sunday to see the classic and still doesn't have a ticket, they should know that they will have to pay at least 1,000 euros to get one. After the first ones sold out, Barça has put a second batch of tickets on sale in different areas of the Camp Nou. The cheapest ones, which sold out on Thursday, cost 1,109 euros in the lower part of the goal, behind the goal. But they come with an asterisk: they are of restricted visibility. A part of the pitch is covered due to the advertising hoardings.

Barça will experience a weekend marked by labor conflict with seasonal permanent workers, employees with indefinite contracts who work periodically according to the club's needs, and who have called a strike coinciding with the 'Clásico' against Real Madrid at Camp Nou (9 pm). The mobilization, promoted by CCOO, will begin at 12 am on Friday, October 23rd, and will last until 6 am on Monday the 26th. The union denounces a deterioration in working conditions, lack of personnel, inequality among workers, and breaches of agreements and the collective bargaining agreement. It also criticizes the progressive reduction of staff while some services are handed over to external companies.

"His level is incredible". That is how Hansi Flick spoke of Xavi Espart in Paris. Barça lost the first match of the season against Paris Saint-Germain, but the Barcelona-born full-back shone with his own light at the Parc des Princes. He left the midfield to return to the right-back position and put on an exhibition, both in defense and in attack, and he also scored his first Champions League goal. In case there was any doubt, Espart has earned a place in the first team, he will be a starter in the 'Clásico' on Sunday, and even Luis de la Fuente is already thinking about calling him up for the senior Spanish national team. "He played a fantastic match, in the first and second half," Flick continued, praising him.

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.

The first defeat for Barça 26-27 arrived at the Parc des Princes. The Blaugrana fell to PSG 4-2 after an unfavorable exchange of blows in the final stretch. Below are some hot takes.