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 the Barça youth academy, Lamine Yamal was also on Espanyol's radar. He even played a few minutes in the white and blue colours in a trial, where he amazed 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 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 blaugrana academy also saw enough in one trial to decide to sign that boy who, at six years old, was already standing 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 lower 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 host of players who have also gone the other way, such as Iván de la Peña, Sergio García or Joan Verdú.
The youth academies of Barça and Espanyol 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 youth football. This is mainly a club strategy and, also, in complicated economic contexts, necessity is made a virtue. Trusting homegrown players in the first team has been the usual practice for both clubs throughout the 21st century.
The figures demonstrate this 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 passed through 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 match played on April 6, 2002, at the old San Mamés. That day, the team managed by Carles Rexach took the field with Bonano; Reiziger, Christanval, Abelardo, Coco; Rochemback, Cocu, Luis Enrique, Overmars, Saviola, and Rivaldo. The count starts from when Xavi Hernández replaced Overmars in the 62nd minute. In total, it's 1,399 matches.
Since then, Barça has always had homegrown representation in the starting eleven at all times. It is not surprising, therefore, that the top 10 players with the most appearances for the blaugrana club 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 boost its youth academy from the nineties onwards, until November 18, 2023, had played with at least one homegrown representative on the pitch at all times throughout the 21st century. 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 replaced by Óscar Gil at the end of the match. 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 –he was replaced by Martín Posse– and the entry of Serrano –who replaced Roger Garcia–, the team went 11 minutes without any player with a past in the youth 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 home representation on the field. This season, with footballers like Omar himself, Pol Lozano or Jofre Carreras, the dynamic remains the same, although there is indeed one match this season in which the team was left for 22 minutes in the second half without home representation. It was on matchday 22, on January 30, against Alavés, between Jofre's departure and Rubén Sánchez's entry. In summary, the Periquita entity has always had a youth academy player on the pitch throughout the 21st century except for these two moments.
This Saturday, Barça and Espanyol (6:30 PM, DAZN) will face each other again in a new derby where, on both sides, there will be local players defending the colors of their teams. It is the greatness of football in Catalonia and of its respective youth academies.
