Hansi Flick's promise to Marc Bernal

Barcelona"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.

In contrast, since January – and to date – Bernal has played 349 minutes, almost double, and has participated in the last five league matches consecutively, starting against Levante. Flick is keeping his word with a player he didn't hesitate to praise on Sunday: "He's a player with a great future ahead of him." The images of the coach celebrating the goal Bernal scored against Mallorca (3-0) on matchday 23 are also revealing. Against Levante, he found the net again. He started the scoring and showed that he's not just a positional pivot, but also has a nose for goal. Because of his strengths – positioning, understanding of the game, and ball distribution – comparisons with Sergio Busquets are frequent, but there's a revealing statistic he published in the newspaper Sport Journalist Jaume Marcet, former narrator of youth football matches on the now-defunct Barça TV: Bernal scored 280 goals in 286 matches at La Masia.

In 2014, at the age of six, Bernal arrived at Barça after being the top scorer for Gimnàstic de Manresa's Under-8 A team. He continued this impressive form: 58 goals in 28 official matches in his first season at La Masia, playing seven-a-side football. In his second year in Barcelona, ​​playing Under-10 C, he scored 50 goals in 29 matches. Albert Puig, the current sporting director of the Girona FC Academy, was his coach that year. "Even as a child, he stood out for his physique. With Nàstic de Manresa, he was already playing with the second-year Under-8 team, despite being a first-year player. It was a team that reached many tournament finals against Barça and beat rivals like Espanyol. At Barça, he continued scoring a lot of goals. In seven-a-side football, he played as an attacking midfielder, but also as a full-back. He was very much a full-back. Impressive," recalls Puig. "Even though he was very big, he was well-coordinated: he positioned himself well, controlled the ball well, knew when to pass or dribble... He was a standout kid."

The transition from inside player to center

According to data collected by Marcet, Bernal scored 243 goals over five years in 7-a-side football in 153 official matches: more than one goal per game. He would later play alongside Puig again in the Under-14 B team. In his first year in senior football, he scored 4 goals in 18 matches. "Many of Barça's players start in the Under-14s in their first year of secondary school (ESO), while most of the players on opposing teams are in their second year, meaning they're a year older. This is very noticeable at this age," explains Puig, "because of the physical changes the body undergoes. Marc had a great physique and a wide range of movement. He thrived on space and played well." Bernal's body—he's currently 1.93 m tall—began to change around that time, especially during the transition from Under-14 to Under-16. This affected his psychomotor skills and the speed of some technical movements. "The evolution of his physique helps explain his transition from playing as an inside forward to a pivot," explains Jordi Roura, then head of La Masia, who also summarizes Bernal's goal-scoring ability with "a great shot and a daring approach when looking for the goal."

It was in the Cadete B team where he began playing as a pivot, although it wasn't an easy season at all. "He had a tough time, he lost his starting role, and until then he was used to being a standout. This helped him toughen up mentally. In the Cadete A team, he regained a lot of confidence, and that's when he started playing more as a pivot, alternating it with the left inside forward position," recalls Puig. Then Bernal's progression skyrocketed: his time in the youth ranks was almost incidental, but he became a regular for Rafa Márquez's Barça Atlético – where he scored two goals in 31 matches – before impressing Hansi Flick in the summer of 2024. "If he stays healthy, he has more than enough talent and ability."