The derby that shows the greatness of football in Catalonia
Both Barça and Espanyol have had streaks of more than 20 years with a homegrown player, at least, in the starting eleven at all times
BarcelonaShortly before signing for Barça's youth academy, Lamine Yamal was also on Espanyol's radar. He even played a few minutes for the blue and white colors in a trial, where he dazzled with his performance. These types of matches, where various children are tested, are usually held a couple of times a year. It is a common practice for youth academies to sign young talents. Isidre Gil, a scout with long and extensive experience in Catalan grassroots football, also alerted Barça. The managers of the azulgrana youth academy also had enough with one trial to decide to sign that boy who, at six years old, stood out at CF La Torreta, in La Roca del Vallès.
With both options on the table, Lamine Yamal chose Barça, even though at that time his father, Mounir, was a Real Madrid fan. Other Barça footballers, such as Alejandro Balde or Dani Olmo, also passed through Espanyol's youth categories before landing at La Masia. This also happens at the professional level, and goalkeeper Joan Garcia is the latest example. In the same way, there are a lot of players who have also gone the other way, such as Iván de la Peña, Sergio García, or Joan Verdú.
Barça's and Espanyol's youth academies are the two most powerful in Catalonia, and among the most prominent in Spain. Both are successful breeding grounds for footballers who become professionals, and both clubs supply their first teams with players who, at some point in their careers, have passed through their formative football. It is mainly a club bet and, also, in complicated economic contexts, necessity is made a virtue. Trusting homegrown players in the first team has been the usual trend for both teams throughout the 21st century.
The figures demonstrate it very clearly. According to data provided by RAC1 journalist Oriol Jové, Barça has accumulated 24 years in which, at a minimum and during the 90 minutes of all matches in all competitions, there was a footballer on the pitch who had played for one of the youth categories of the blaugrana entity, from the academy to the reserve team. The last time the team was without any player with a past at the club was on matchday 33 of La Liga, in an Athletic Club-Barça played on April 6, 2002, at the old San Mamés. That day, the team managed by Carles Rexach took to the field with Bonano; Reiziger, Christanval, Abelardo, Coco; Rochemback, Cocu, Luis Enrique, Overmars, Saviola, and Rivaldo. The streak began when Xavi Hernández replaced Overmars in the 62nd minute. In total, it's 1,399 matches.
Since then, Barça has always had representation from the academy on the field at all times in the starting eleven. It's not surprising, then, that the top 10 players with the most appearances for the blaugrana entity is full of footballers who have known La Masia firsthand. Only Migueli, in seventh position in the ranking, breaks the norm in this list formed by Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Víctor Valdés, Jordi Alba, and Carles Rexach.
Espanyol, almost the entire 21st century
Espanyol, which began to strengthen its youth academy from the nineties onwards, had played with at least one homegrown representative on the field at all times throughout the 21st century until November 18, 2023. That day, in a match against Elche corresponding to the 16th matchday of the Second Division, the team played the last six minutes without any footballer with a background in youth football after Omar El Hilali was substituted for Óscar Gil in the final moments of the game. Until then, according to data provided to ARA by Sergi Andreu, a journalist for Catalunya Ràdio and commentator for the blue-and-white team's matches on the same station, the last time Espanyol had not had any homegrown footballer playing was on October 17, 1999, against Real Sociedad.
That day, in a League match corresponding to the eighth matchday of the First Division, between the departure of Raúl Tamudo –Martín Posse replaced him– and the arrival of Serrano –who replaced Roger Garcia–, the team went 11 minutes without any player with a past in the academy. From that duel against Real played at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys until the aforementioned match against Elche in 2023, the periquita entity had always had representation from home on the field. This season, with players like Omar himself, Pol Lozano or Jofre Carreras, the dynamic continues to be the same, although there is indeed one match this season in which the team was without representation from home for 22 minutes in the second half. It was on matchday 22, on January 30 against Alavés, between Jofre's departure and Rubén Sánchez's arrival. In summary, the periquita entity has always had an academy player on the pitch throughout the 21st century except for these two short periods.
This Saturday, Barça and Espanyol (6:30 p.m., DAZN) will face each other again in a new derby where, on both sides, there will be homegrown players defending their teams' colors. It is the greatness of football in Catalonia and its respective nurseries.