"Following his return from a lengthy injury layoff due to an ACL injury, many Barcelona fans expected Marc Bernal to have a prominent role in the team. After all, he had become a starter last season, when the unfortunate injury occurred, sidelining him for a year. However, his reintegration into the team has been much slower and methodical, with manager Hansi Flick taking a cautious approach."
"Flick and his technical staff were very clear about the roadmap from the outset. The teenage midfielder was always going to be reintroduced very gradually, avoiding, above all, in the first few months, situations of competitive stress. The ideal scenario was for Bernal to accumulate minutes in matches with less tension. The problem was that, in the early parts of the season, there were very few games of that type."
"At times, understandably, the player himself became impatient. By the end of November, with more than three months of the season completed, he had played just 62 minutes, spread across short appearances. Bernal's mood lifted sharply with his first start on 29 November against Alaves. He played 45 encouraging minutes, showing good physical condition and flashes of the quality he had displayed during that brief spell in August 2024 before his injury."
Marc Bernal returned from a year-long ACL layoff after becoming a starter the previous season. Reintegration has been slow and methodical under manager Hansi Flick, who has prioritized a cautious roadmap to avoid early competitive stress. The plan focused on gradual minutes in lower-tension matches, but a run of injuries and tough fixtures limited those opportunities. Bernal recorded just 62 minutes by late November, then earned his first start on 29 November against Alaves, playing 45 encouraging minutes. He followed with substitute minutes against Real Betis, Guadalajara and Villarreal. Confidence at the end of 2025 is expected to rise into early 2026.
Read at Barca Universal
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