An unprecedented milestone at Camp Nou: "It's a source of pride, Barça is a Catalan club"

Barcelona"This is a source of pride. Barça is a Catalan club, many of us players feel that, and starting with nine Catalan players in the starting eleven is special," said Marc Bernal, from Berga, on Saturday after the victory against Alavés. "It's a very important fact, which speaks volumes about the club and its philosophy. Besides, many of us are from La Masia. For us, it's a dream to have arrived here at the Camp Nou, to defend these colors and wear this shirt," added Dani Olmo, from Terrassa. "Marc Casadó had told me this before the match. It means a lot about what Barça is, and it really defines the club that nine of us are from here and that we can compete on equal terms," added Gerard Martín, born in Esplugues de Llobregat. The three spoke to TV3 about a milestone never before seen at the Camp Nou: Hansi Flick fielded a starting eleven with nine Catalan players.

In fact, all the first-team players registered in Catalonia were on the pitch: Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, Alejandro Balde, Marc Casadó, Marc Bernal, Dani Olmo, and Lamine Yamal. Only Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski are not Catalan. To find a similar milestone, one would have to go back to March 8, 1959, when Barça played a league match with nine players born in Catalonia in the starting eleven, as journalist Oriol Jové, who has an extensive database, points out. Jové adds that to find a Barça home match (in any competition) with more Catalans than Saturday's game against Alavés, one has to go back to the Spanish Civil War. Specifically, to October 31, 1937, in a Barça-Espanyol match in the Catalan Championship. Therefore, Saturday marked a historic milestone both at the old Camp Nou – inaugurated in 1957 – and at the new Camp Nou, of course.

The difficulty in registering new signings that has plagued Barça in recent seasons, coupled with the order to drastically reduce salaries, explains why, under Hansi Flick, the Barça squad is the most Catalan of the 21st century. This season, all nine players born in Catalonia are registered with the first team, and Toni Martínez, originally from Rubí, has also seen playing time. Last season there were eleven. This season there are ten, because Pau Víctor and Héctor Fort have left, but Joan Garcia has arrived. Furthermore, considering the squad composition, it can be concluded that Flick's Barça has the fewest foreign players since the 1995-1996 season, that is, since the implementation of the landmark Bosman ruling, which began treating footballers as EU citizens. Ter Stegen, Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, De Jong, Raphinha, Rooney, and Lewandowski are the only players on the current squad who were not born in Spain. On the other hand, Real Madrid has 18 foreign players and only seven born in Spain, figures that are also historic. They are followed by Atlético de Madrid, with 16 foreign players, and Sevilla and Oviedo, each with 15. The Catalan team with the most players from outside Spain is Girona, with 14. The youngest team in the entire league is Barça.

Another indicator that places the current Barça at the forefront in terms of Catalan identity in this 21st century is the number of players born in Catalonia who are in the starting lineup. In the squads analyzed since 2000, there have only been five or more Catalans in the most frequently used eleven five times: between 2010 and 2014 – Valdés, Puyol, Piqué, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, and Cesc – and now. It's true that things can change as the season progresses, but in the short term, it's very common to see Joan, Cubarsí, Balde, Casadó, Olmo, Gerard, and Lamine Yamal in the same starting eleven.

Flick is making a virtue of necessity, and this is also reflected in the average age of the entire squad. According to data from the specialized website Transfermarkt, Barça has the youngest team in the entire league. The average age of its players is 25.6 years. The next teams in the ranking are Real Sociedad and Real Madrid, both with an average age of 26. At the bottom of the ranking are Rayo Vallecano and Oviedo, whose squads have an average age of almost 29.