Alejandro Echevarría's garden at Joan Laporta's Barça

NewcastleAmong the Barça contingent in Newcastle, where the first team plays the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 this Tuesday (9 p.m., Movistar), is Alejandro Echevarría. The presence of Joan Laporta's former brother-in-law on official club trips is no longer news. Despite holding no management or executive position, he boards the planes and stays in the same hotels as Hansi Flick and his players. But beyond that, it's in the day-to-day operations where his considerable influence on decision-making is most evident. He has unlimited access to all the spaces frequented by the players. And in the case of club members, leveraging his influence as a fixer, he invited them to sign petitions supporting Laporta's pre-candidacy for re-election.

"He's the fucking boss, that's all there is to it," a person who spends time under his long shadow at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper told ARA. "It is essential for the functioning of Barça," The former vice-president of Barcelona, ​​Maria Elena Fort, acknowledged this to the newspaper. "He's someone I trust completely when it comes to League and Federation matters. He has a great rapport with Deco, this harmony works well in the locker room, and he has a great ability to solve problems," Laporta himself emphasized during his campaign appearances. "Alejandro always helps us when we need something," Flick added.

Although Echevarría has lived out of the spotlight for much of his term (he has strived to remain in the background), his growing influence has finally brought him into the public eye. But it has been an extensive interview with Xavi Hernández in The Vanguard which has brought to the forefront the enormous influence of the man who had to resign as a Barça director in 2005 when it was discovered that he was a patron of the Francisco Franco Foundation. The man from Terrassa, who arrived at the Barça bench in 2021 thanks to the influence of Laporta's former brother-in-law, claims that it was the same person who set him up to bring about a coaching change in the spring of 2024: "He dedicated himself to explaining Raphinha, Pedri, Sergi Roberto, and Arau."

But the less publicized part of the story, which is probably also the most painful because it still resonates in Sant Joan Despí today, was the clash over the physical conditioning of the Barça players. Xavi says he agreed to reinforce his staff with physical trainer Julio Tous and physiotherapist Raúl Martínez, but Echevarría wasn't satisfied: "He started shouting and saying that the physical preparation was a disaster." Upon his arrival in Barcelona, ​​Flick found a practically complete team with two prominent members, Tous and Martínez, protected by Echevarría. Unlike most of the members of thestaffThey collect their fees through their companies. They aren't present at every training session, but their voice is the one most listened to by Laporta's former brother-in-law and, indirectly, also by the former president.

The Tous-Martínez partnership worked very well, especially in the first two-thirds of last season. However, this season, the physical decline, which became evident in the fateful tie against Inter Milan, has led to several conflicts related to player recovery. Before the Christmas break, there were two tense episodes. The first was Gavi's right knee injury, which unfortunately worsened in part due to Martínez's insistence on conservative treatment. And the second, Raphinha's constant relapses, which prompted the Brazilian and other players to demand that the doctors resume coordinating the readaptations, a responsibility that Tous had taken over after the summer with Echevarría's approval.

According to sources at the training ground, physical conditioning continues to cause headaches. In fact, Flick hasn't hidden his concern following the recent injuries to Kounde and Balde at a crucial time, although he hasn't singled anyone out. However, a few weeks ago, after Pedri suffered an injury in a Champions League match in Prague and Raphinha missed a significant amount of time due to muscle problems, the German coach saw several team spokespeople express their dissatisfaction with Tous's work and urge him to take action.

A pseudonym to keep the peace.

In this meeting, the players explained that they felt they were missing strength training and that, consequently, they had to find their own ways to supplement their preparation. Flick still believes he can resolve the internal problem through dialogue and empathy. Meanwhile, Echevarría maintains unwavering faith in his approach, to the point that he has reprimanded some members of the team.staff When a player has complained to him about Tous.

To protect themselves from this defiant attitude, footballers, coaches, physiotherapists, and trainers have begun to speak in code about Laporta's former brother-in-law. In conversations in common areas, they use a pseudonym instead of his name (Alejandro) to prevent messages from reaching him through the players with whom he has a closer relationship and the professionals he has personally promoted to the sporting directorate, as well as to the communications, security, player relations, and equipment departments.

By protecting the squad's day-to-day operations and controlling every move, Echevarría has turned the Barça dressing room into his personal playground. All of this is done in collusion with Laporta, who thanks him for the dirty work (also to rebuild relationships with the supporters' groups before the elections) because he knows that few people will talk while the ball continues to bring joy to Barça fans.