BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lamine Yamal provided the dazzle, Pedri set the pace and Raphinha scored the crucial goals as Barcelona won the La Liga title by playing its most electric soccer since the heyday of Lionel Messi.
While his players excelled in a campaign that also included a Copa del Rey title, Barcelona's success was in large part due to coach Hansi Flick.
The former Bayern Munich manager took the same core of a squad that won nothing the previous season under Xavi Hernández and turned it into the one of the most entertaining sides in Europe.
Flick’s non-negotiable game plan of pressing high up the pitch to recover balls in attacking position was fervently executed by his players. The result was a domestic double and a memorable Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan that Barcelona was seconds away from winning.
Backed by Yamal's 53rd-minute goal, Barcelona clinched the title Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Espanyol.
“Flick has a large part of this title,” Pedri said after the decider at Espanyol. “He completely changed the team, and this season is one to be remembered.”
Here are the other keys to Barcelona’s success in the 2024-25 Spanish league season:
Give the ball to Yamal
Yamal confirmed his status as the rising star of international soccer just weeks before the club season began when he stole the show in Spain’s European Championship victory.
He carried his fantastic play into Barcelona’s season, and over the course of the campaign his weight in the attack increased, as did his role as a vocal motivator.
His comment to a teammate when Madrid was up 2-1 in the Copa del Rey final summed up his and Barcelona’s mentality: “It doesn’t matter if they score one goal, it doesn’t matter if they score two goals. They can’t hang with us.” Barcelona went on to win 3-2.
Yamal helped lead several comebacks and was a big reason that Barcelona swept all four clasicos against Real Madrid by a combined score of 16-7: two in the league, the cup final and the Spanish Super Cup.
And, fittingly, he curled in a stunner to lead the victory that sealed the title.
Reinvented Raphinha
If there is one player who symbolizes the renewal of Barcelona this season it is Raphinha.
Raphinha blossomed from a workhorse winger into a decisive scorer and team leader who could play at multiple positions.
The Brazil forward scored 18 of his 34 goals in the league, including twice in a 4-3 comeback over Madrid that pretty much decided the title race.
Robert Lewandowski poured in 25 league goals as the veteran striker completed a formidable front three that was comparable to the great Barcelona trident of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez.
Their goals and the superb play of right back Jules Koundé helped vindicate the decision made by club president Joan Laporta three years ago to sell off future TV rights and other assets so that Barcelona could sign Koundé, Lewandowski and Raphinha as part of a bid to rekindle the club’s winning ways.
Ferrán Torres also emerged as a super sub striker, especially when Lewandowski was injured late in the season.
Pedri, the man in the middle
Despite the fantastic play of Barcelona's forwards, Pedri was the most indispensable player for Flick.
The midfielder, who at age 22 is already completing his fifth season as a undisputed starter, put in his best campaign since he broke out for Barcelona as a teenager. He led the team in minutes played and firmly established himself as the successor of midfield greats Xavi and Andrés Iniesta thanks to his ball control, vision, passing and sense of timing.
Pedri was helped by new arrival Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi Páez, Fermín López and Marc Casadó to provide Barcelona with the best midfield in the league.
Pressure and high defensive line
Flick’s most notable imprint on the team was its very high line in defense.
The first-choice back four of Alejandro Balde, Iñigo Martínez, Pau Cubarsí and Koundé were masters of pushing up the field and coordinating perfectly to spring offside traps.
They compacted the space the opponents had to work in and allowed their teammates to swarm in and steal balls to devastating effect.
An honorable mention goes to Wojciech Szczesny, who came out of retirement to play in goal for the injured Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
A young team for years to come
Barcelona’s future looks bright.
Yamal at 17 leads its youth movement, and Pedri, Gavi, Cubarsí, Fermín, Balde, Casadó, Pablo Torre, Ansu Fati and Gerard Martín, along with other youth-team players used by Flick, are all under 23 years old.
The only players near the end of their career are Lewandowski at 36 and Martínez at 33 years old.
So, all in all, Flick’s Barcelona has the potential to keep this going for years to come.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
