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 has communicated the death of Hansi Flick's father hours before playing a classic that could decide La Liga. The club has expressed its condolences to the German coach, who will be on the Camp Nou bench for the duel against Real Madrid (9 p.m., Movistar LaLiga), according to the club.

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.

After almost two years, it seemed that Barça would draw a goalless match, a forgotten result for Barcelona fans. But Lewandowski made the difference with a good header and the game broke open in the final minutes. If Espanyol helps, the title could fall in a few hours. Who knows if Arbeloa's team will have to give a guard of honor to a team that knows how to win even in complicated contexts.

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”.

In the preview of the Barça-Celta match this Wednesday (9:30 PM, Movistar), Hansi Flick has defended that the team has recovered from their Champions League elimination and that "the atmosphere is very good" to achieve what would be the second consecutive league title with the German on the bench. "The players are well, happy, and motivated. I see it in training. Now we have to transfer it to the remaining matches." The Barça coach has praised his players, a very young group, and has recalled his affection for Barça and also for the city of Barcelona. This has led him to talk about his continuity in the Catalan institution, beyond the next season (2026-27), in which his current contract would end.

After the departure of Iñigo Martínez, Hansi Flick lost much more than a starter and a fundamental piece for his footballing idea: he was left without a left-footed centre-back. The absence of the defender from Ondarroa was particularly noticeable in the first part of the season, when the team left many doubts in defence. Pau Cubarsí, who began to establish himself with Xavi Hernández and was confirmed as an undisputed starter with Hansi Flick, was one of the first to notice it: forced to change his profile in the centre, it was not the same to have Iñigo Martínez as Ronald Araujo as his dancing partner. Finally, the solution the German coach ended up finding was to convert Gerard Martín into a centre-back. The experiment, previously tested in training, was transferred for the first time to a match on November 22nd, which coincided with the return to Camp Nou and ended with a resounding and comfortable 4-0 victory over Athletic Club.

The permission that Barça has given Raphinha to disconnect in Porto Alegre after getting injured with the canarinha is surprising because it deviates from the usual script. Although it is easy to empathize with the boy's emotional setback, it is very jarring that a player who has repeatedly torn his hamstring starts his recovery far from the Sports City. Especially if we consider that the medical services of the club that pays him have not yet been able to examine him.

In a few weeks it will be five years since Hansi Flick's surprising resignation from the Bayern Munich bench. In April 2021, just eight months after winning a treble – including a 2-8 victory over Messi's Barça – with the Bavarians, and despite having a contract secured until 2023, the coach announced he would not continue in the role due to deep disagreements with the club's sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, who made a series of decisions he did not like, such as not renewing Thiago Alcántara or Ivan Perisic.

A perfect day at Can Barça. Thousands of people have shown that this club is special because you can vote, there's a new stand open that has made the stadium feel spacious, and they've dominated on the pitch, where they didn't have to suffer for a single moment. As if it were a Gamper Trophy match or a barbecue, Sevilla let themselves be led to the slaughter like lambs and made it easy for Flick's Barça.

"I'm counting on you. Not just for the future, but for this season too. You'll get more playing time, and it will be quality playing time. I want you to stay." Just as he did with Eric Garcia in the winter transfer window last season, Hansi Flick spoke with Marc Bernal in January. Míchel's Girona was tempting him, promising him the playing time he wasn't getting in his second season with the Barça first team, after a dazzling start at seventeen that was cut short by a serious left knee injury. This sentiment was echoed by both Barça and the player's entourage, as well as by Bernal himself. He said it in an interview on the ARAIt was claimed that he was recovered, but until January his presence was minimal: 189 minutes between August and December.

THE RAPHINHA INVENTION

Hansi Flick promised Stamford Bridge that we would soon see a better version of Barça and, despite the setbacks, has finished in the Champions League Top 8That tough defeat forced the team to confront the reality of European expectations. It's undeniable that we've seen a Barça on the rise online, but to seriously compete in the most coveted race, they'll have to raise their level considerably. The first to recognize this is the coach, who, after the victory against Copenhagen, admitted that to aspire to the title, "we have to do things much, much better." He had seemed particularly angry about conceding the goal right at the start, after having spent the hours leading up to the match repeating the importance of achieving a "clean sheetThis is the great Achilles' heel of his Barça and, probably, the most obvious obstacle to prevailing when the big stages arrive. Since then, they haven't reached it again. Eleven matches, eight this season and three last, with 24 goals conceded. The calculator says the average is more than two goals per game. The persistent debate that, at the beginning of the season, had arisen around the risks of playing with such an advanced defensive line, with expert voices like Thierry Henry irritating him so much, has been closed. Strong in possession and even more relentless in pressing after losing it. Imaginative, daydreaming, falling madly in love without restraint, enjoying without fear. Why not?

The fourth title of the Hansi Flick era is here. Barça has beaten Real Madrid (3-2) and continues to dominate the national scene under the guidance of the German coachHe has equaled Luis Enrique's record after winning four of the first five titles he has competed for on the Catalan bench. Joan Garcia, Marc Bernal, Marcus Rashford, and Rooney Bardghji have all won their first titles with Barça, while Hansi Flick remains Real Madrid's nemesis. Since taking over at Barça, he has won five of the six Clásicos he has managed, three of them in finals. Flick has never lost a final; the German coach has won all eight finals he has managed.

Few footballers at Barça have a recent history as unique as Fermín López's. Perhaps the closest is Gerard Martín, who went from Cornellà to playing in a Champions League semi-final under Hansi Flick. In the case of the Andalusian attacking midfielder, the credit must be given, aside from the player himself and former youth academy director Jordi Roura, to Xavi Hernández. The former Barça coach was the one who placed the most faith in Fermín when he was practically out of the club – he went on loan to Linares – without even having made his debut with the first team. "Xavi is his mentor and, with Flick, little by little, he ended up earning a place," Roura said. He praised the footballer's father in a conversation with ARA"We are very grateful to all the Barça fans and all Catalans for how much they love him," he added.

Contrary to what many thought, when Hansi Flick surprised everyone by playing Gerard Martín at centre-back on the last Asian tour, he didn't yet know he would stay. without Iñigo Martínez, Barça's best defender last season. The German coach improvised this solution because the Basque player was experiencing discomfort, and the only left-footed player adaptable to the center-back position was the Barcelona native, who until then had only performed adequately as an alternative to Alejandro Balde. Flick had considered Iñigo his first choice, but on the plane back from South Korea, he received the news that Iñigo was leaving for Saudi Arabia. His reaction was a mixture of understanding, disappointment, and concern. As he was losing a key player both on the pitch and in the locker room, the coach asked the sporting director to explore the transfer market to fill the gap. However, with the Marc-André ter Stegen saga—and the registrations of Joan Garcia, Marcus Rashford, and Roony Bardghji—still unresolved, the response at that time was to make do with Andreas Christensen, who went from being on the verge of leaving to being listed as the fourth natural center-back in the squad. Now, however, the Danish footballer has partially torn his cruciate ligament and will be out for at least the next four months. While he wasn't playing much, he guaranteed reliability in the heart of the defense and posed a threat to the opposing penalty area thanks to his aerial ability. as he clearly demonstrated on the field in Guadalajara.

In Barça terms, he's the man of 2025. Hansi Flick has managed to lift the spirits of the Barça faithful by creating a team that inspires, wins, and entertains. And he's done it with many homegrown players. This year, he's won three titles, come within a whisker of returning to a Champions League final, and has demonstrated the skills to navigate the always treacherous waters of Barça fandom, where more than one has drowned.

Barça traveled to Villarreal, always a difficult ground, with their hearts heavy due to bad news. Andreas Christensen, the unexpected hero of Tuesday's challenging Copa del Rey match in Guadalajara, was once again facing setbacks. This time, the Danish defender, considered by the coaching staff to be the most complete center-back in the squad when fully fit, will be sidelined for approximately four months with a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He will avoid surgery, but will most likely miss the decisive stretch of the season, during which he was also expected to prove himself in order to renew his contract, which expires on June 30. Besides Christensen, Hansi Flick also had to contend with the absence of Pedri González at La Cerámica, in this case due to muscle overload, the same reason given for Jules Koundé's substitution. at the end of the match against the yellows.

The Barça presidential elections have not yet been scheduled, although according to the club's statutes they must take place between March 15 and June 15. For weeks, even months, the candidates have been actively campaigning to raise their profile and present their proposals to the Barça fanbase. Joan Laporta, the incumbent president seeking re-election, has also been actively campaigning, recently intensifying his meetings with members to discuss his legacy and gather suggestions and concerns that will inform his electoral platform. As with any sports club, results are important, and lately, the current board has been enjoying good fortune. Regardless of the outcome in Villarreal, Barça will head into the Christmas break as leaders of the men's First Division. The women's team is progressing steadily in the Women's League and the Champions League, where they finished first in the group stage. While basketball is enjoying a golden moment since Xavi Pascual returned as coach, stringing together eight consecutive victories—the latest an epic three-overtime win that also set a EuroLeague scoring record—any candidate knows that having the support of professionals is equally important. Joan Laporta received a very pleasant surprise this afternoon when he heard Hansi Flick speak. In the lead-up to Sunday's league game at the Estadio de la Cerámica (4:15 p.m., DAZN), the German coach praised the current president, thanking him for hiring him a year and a half ago.