Hansi Flick had planned to go see Mago Pop's show on Sunday evening, but a technical problem "of force majeure" caused the Valles magician to suspend the performance. Consequently, the Barça coach was left with no other plan than to follow the Espanyol-Madrid game, in which only a white triumph prevented the mathematical achievement of his second League in two seasons on the blaugrana bench. Due to two goals from Vinícius, the celebration will be delayed by at least a week and will remain pending to achieve just one point out of the twelve available. The quickest way – and also the most pleasant – will be to get it this Sunday at the Camp Nou, in a classic that the culers will face with their belts loosened.

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.

Hansi Flick's manual not only aligns with Johan Cruyff's pragmatic ideology of 'I'd rather win 5-4 than 1-0', but it has also delivered titles to legitimize a philosophy that always clashes with the conservative tribuneism of our country, or with lovers of defensive calculation everywhere. In this endemic political clash, the side of the good, which includes those who prefer artistic enjoyment over tactics, has signed a cultural vindication with the spectacle between PSG and Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Seeing the admiration the match has caused, I imagine Flick must have let out an ironic smile remembering how experts Thierry Henry or Ruud Gullit had called his offensive gamble kamikaze with sentences like 'you can't win the Champions League playing like this'.

Hansi Flick's manual not only aligns with Johan Cruyff's pragmatic ideal of “I’d rather win 5-4 than 1-0”, but it has also delivered titles to legitimize a philosophy that always clashes with the conservative armchair punditry of our house, or with lovers of defensive calculation everywhere. In this endemic political clash, the camp of the good guys, which includes those who prefer artistic enjoyment to tactical grids, has ratified a cultural vindication with the spectacle put on by PSG and Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Seeing the admiration the match has generated, I imagine Flick must have let out an ironic smile, recalling how experts like Thierry Henry or Ruud Gullit had branded his offensive approach as kamikaze with pronouncements like “you can’t win the Champions League playing like that”.

Meeting the construction deadlines for the Camp Nou is no longer a matter of pride or a propaganda tool for Joan Laporta. Having convincingly won the elections, the president-elect does not need grand gestures towards the fanbase or populist measures to win their favor. The president's main concern is to ensure that the new stadium generates the promised revenue, and therefore, it is essential to finish it as soon as possible. However, all large-scale construction projects experience delays, and the blaugrana coliseum is no exception.

After a capital victory on the always charged field of Getafe (0-2), Hansi Flick gave his disciples three days off. The Barça coach has taken advantage of the break to spend a few days in Germany with his family. Dani Olmo, Joan Garcia and Eric Garcia have needed less warm clothing, deciding to rent a small boat and get wet in some corner of the Costa Brava. While his teammates enjoyed a well-deserved decompression time, Lamine Yamal began to focus on recovering from the first muscular injury he has suffered as a footballer. He suffered it shortly before halftime during Celta's visit to Camp Nou a week ago. He needed to be substituted just after converting the penalty that meant the goal of a tight victory (1-0). When he shot from eleven meters, he was already injured. The biceps femoris of his left leg had said enough at the moment he dribbled past Yoel Lago in the play that Munuera Montero punished with a penalty.

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.

Barça started the season with the feeling that they had an excess of midfielders. So much so that the club, conditioned by the famous fair play financial, listened to several offers. One of the most succulent, the one Chelsea made for Fermín López, but which Barça rejected because they considered that the 50 million offered by the English were totally insufficient given the player's potential. More proposals arrived, also for Pablo Párez Gavira, Gavi. But in his case, Deco and company did not dedicate a single moment to valuing them. In short: he was not for sale.

Hard-fought victory for Barça that could be worth a League (0-2). Fermín and Rashford resolve the paperwork in a well-contested clash in Getafe. Below, some immediate thoughts.

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.

Three golden points for Barça in a match marked by Lamine Yamal's injury and a first half that lasted 67 minutes (1-0). La Liga, closer. Next, some immediate thoughts.

It has been more than a month since Camp Nou has been operating with the first two stands full. After uncomfortable tug-of-wars with technicians from the Barcelona City Council, Barça was able to implement phase 1C of the stadium's reopening to aim to accommodate a maximum of 62,000 people inside. The current season will end with this capacity, despite considerable progress in the construction of the third stand, which will house more than 40,000 spectators, reaching a capacity of 105,000.

The return of the Champions League quarter-finals to the Metropolitano made evident, once again, one of Barça's great shortcomings: the absence of a reference center forward who does not generate doubts in the starting eleven. While it is true that Ferran Torres performed at a good level in Madrid in a position where he started to emerge at City with Pep Guardiola and which he has ended up making his own at Barça, the sporting leadership is clear that the "nine position does not lie with the Valencian nor with Robert Lewandowski.

Barça's financial fair play went up in smoke in 2020. With the pandemic and closed stadiums, revenues fell and the club was left with no capacity to pay player salaries. In 2021, with Joan Laporta in the box, the decision to tweak the numbers and load up to 555 million in losses onto the fiscal year that had started with Bartomeu as president, only aggravated the problem to the extreme. Five years later, and despite having activated levers, having fine-tuned the wage bill, and having closed low cost, the club is heading towards another summer with problems to face the transfer market normally.

"It is intolerable and a shame the refereeing yesterday," Joan Laporta stated this Wednesday after the team was eliminated from the Champions League. "In the first leg, Cubarsí was sent off, which was a yellow and not a red. In the second leg, the same with Eric. Neither of them are reds. There's an aggression against Fermín, a penalty against Olmo...", complained the top Barça executive who even considers that Ferran's 1-3 should not have been disallowed. Laporta gave voice to the feeling of injustice that was felt in the locker room after being eliminated at the Metropolitano. Barça fell with pride intact and their heads held high, but they fell. And in the Champions League, it's been like this for eleven seasons now.

It couldn't be. Here are some hot takes.

It wasn't meant to be. Barça, eliminated from the Champions League after falling just short of a comeback (1-2). Despite finishing with ten players, the Catalans pushed until the end. Here are some immediate thoughts.

UEFA will ensure that the grass at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano is in good condition for this Tuesday's Atlético de Madrid-Barça match. Following a meeting held this morning in the Spanish capital with representatives from the clubs and UEFA, prompted by complaints from Hansi Flick, who found the turf to be too high and dry during yesterday's training session –he didn't hesitate to frown and discuss it with his coaching staff–, the continental governing body has secured a commitment from the Madrid club. They will cut the grass to 26 millimeters –the maximum allowed is 30– and water it both before the game and at halftime. "There's no news. It's a ridiculous fuss," assured the president of Atlético de Madrid, Enrique Cerezo.