Lamine Yamal and Simeone's plan

While Barça sealed the league by winning the derby, its Champions League rival, Atlètic de Madrid, lost in Seville with a team full of substitutes and youth players from the academy. With seven matchdays left in the championship, Simeone's team is exactly 22 points behind the leader, but the coach did not seem disheartened. "I have a plan and I will not deviate," he warned.

The highest-paid Spanish coach is not penalized by Atlètic's laxity in domestic competition, despite being, for example, the one who spent the most money in the winter market –60 million–, nor by the approach or the fearful version it offered, for instance, in the second half of the first leg at the Camp Nou playing against ten men. But this is his problem, that of his club and his fans. Barça has another: to come back at the Metropolitano. On their last visit in a knockout tie, in the first leg of the Copa del Rey, they conceded four goals, and a week ago, in the league, they won with difficulty. It does not seem easy, then.

Barça will have to overcome the usual "cholista" tricks: the ball boys who try to make the goalkeeper lose his temper, time-wasting, the hyper-excitement in the dugout inciting the crowd and pressuring the referees... but they already have experience. The "azulgranas" know what awaits them and Flick has not stooped to dirty tactics at any point, nor has he appealed to epic moments. In fact, the coach assured, after winning against Espanyol, that it is not about performing miracles, but about offering their best version. That is why he counts on Lamine Yamal, who in recent matches has already shown that he is in top form. But there is something more: the message he sent on his social media, the "this is not over yet" which shows that he is willing to step into the frontline and carry the team –and the responsibility– on his shoulders.

Cholo has a plan and Lamine Yamal has another. And this Tuesday we will see who gets their way, but Flick is aware that the match cannot be a Lamine Yamal versus everyone, that the starneeds help, and his influence must be felt. In the derby, Gavi and Fermín, two hearts with legs, presented their credentials. De Jong reappeared and Ferran Torres rediscovered his scoring touch. Arriving at the Metropolitano with the league in the bag and good self-esteem is also not a bad plan. Because, of course it is difficult, but by no means impossible.