"It almost seems like we're dead, but at least we made it into the photo"

Torelló"When I go to sleep, sometimes I look at it and sometimes I don't. When I look at it, I remember all of it: the Barça period, good times, bad times, more good than bad, when you worried about little and were happy playing football. I feel nostalgia above all else," says Gibert Jordana (Vic, 2007), Girona B's winger. He's talking about a photo like the one illustrating this text, alongside Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí, and Marc Bernal. It corresponds to the 2019 U-12 Catalunya Cup final and also features Landry Farré from Barça B; David Sáez from Girona's U-18 team; and goalkeeper Jordi Saucedo from Huesca's U-18 team. Barça shared the photo on social media with Farré, Jordana, Sáez, and Saucedo in black and white. "It almost looks like we're dead, but at least we're in the photo," says Saucedo (Terrassa, 2007).

Jordana hasn't forgotten the day his father presented him with the Barça offer while they were having dinner: "At first, I was scared: 'I don't know, I don't know.' It shocked me so much that I didn't know how to respond." But he accepted. "When I told my friends, they were amazed. Going to Barça was incredible. At first, I didn't believe it," he admits. He remembers the taxi rides, alongside players like Arnau Tenas. Calling the radio to request a song, the queues for the rounds. Happiness paid for all the tolls. "When I arrived, my parents and siblings had already had dinner. They kept me company from the sofa. It's close, isn't it?" he emphasizes.

He also talks about trips to play in Dubai or the United States, "very unforgettable experiences." Saucedo adds Austria, France, Italy, Japan, and Switzerland to the list: more trips than his parents took in their entire lives. "When the years go by, you look at it on the map and say, 'Look, that was here.'" "I remember one day in Japan, it must have been 10 PM, and we were still playing and running down the corridor, with the music very loud. They are very polite there, and the hotel staff came to scold us. We went into our rooms for a moment and then went back out," explains Saucedo. His parents had arrived from Bolivia, and the situation at home was difficult: he remembers that during tournaments, there were times when Lamine Yamal and he were left alone because the other children were accompanied by their parents. His weren't able to. The coach on duty would lend them a phone to call home. His parents worked in a metalworking shop and a candy factory and didn't have a car: sometimes Lamine Yamal and Saucedo would travel home together by train.

It was already clear that he was "a differential talent" and he had scored many goals with the typical shot to the far post: "Everything we see today, so beastly, we have seen since we were little." Cubarsí's vision of play and leadership, and Bernal's arrival, power, and quality also stand out. They also grew up with Xavi Espart, the penultimate gem of the 2007 generation. They played Brawl Stars and Clash Royale together, on their phones, and Fortnite and FIFA, on their PlayStations. "Pau didn't have any skill. Since he lives so far from society, he didn't have a PlayStation," reveals Saucedo, an international with the Spanish U-15 team.

"Today there are still people who ask me why they kicked me out"

The farewell from Barça came at 16 years old, in 2023. "The first reaction was to cry non-stop. It touches your heart. That moment of sadness is not forgotten. You cry, but after ten minutes you have to understand that it's part of the journey and you have to keep going," he says. Jordana had to leave in 2021. "The move to 11-a-side football was very difficult for me. In Barça's 7-a-side football, you win all the matches by a large margin and you don't learn to defend because they practically don't attack you. Towards the end of the season, they called my father. I was calmly in my room and he came and told me. My world fell apart. I started crying in bed. I will never forget this moment," he admits. He takes a breath and continues: "It changes everything. You tell yourself: 'What will I do now?' At that moment, I felt a lot of sadness. It was a very strong shock. You stop being 'en Gibert who plays for Barça'. Suddenly you go from being everything to being nothing, and there are many people who no longer see you with the same eyes." He was fourteen years old.

"Today, people still ask me why I was kicked out of Barça. It's something that still haunts me," he explains. He admits that at first, when he saw Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí, and Bernal playing with the first team, he felt "frustration." "You see that you are quite far away, quite below, and you start to think. They used to play football and Play with you, and suddenly you see them on TV from the sofa. 'We were in the same place, and now he's there and I'm here.' People also tell you: 'You are here, and they are there.' But little by little, you end up accepting it and thinking that they are special talents and that football works differently for everyone. Comparing yourself to players like that is hurting yourself because they are special," he assures.

He points out that it has taken a process because at first it was difficult to process these intrusive thoughts, not to think if it was already too late, if he had failed. Both claim that their path is probably more normal: they are still juveniles, and Saucedo is a starter in División de Honor, and Jordana plays in Segunda Federación and has already accumulated fifteen call-ups to the First Division under Míchel Sánchez, in addition to his debut in the Copa del Rey. "I don't think 'What am I doing? Why haven't I made it?' It's more a feeling of pride, of having been able to enjoy these great players. Everyone has to go through their own stages. It will be their turn to talk about us," says Saucedo with a smile.