The biggest takeaway from the starting eleven against Levante is Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese international starts ahead of Alejandro Balde at left-back, while Jules Kounde continues on the opposite flank. Gerard Martin is a suspension risk and is one booking away from becoming ineligible to play against Villarreal. But he starts in central defence alongside Eric Garcia, with Pau Cubarsi rested.
During the winter transfer window, a loan departure was even considered due to his limited playing time, but the situation has now changed radically. Manager Hansi Flick spoke with the teenage midfielder in January and promised more minutes, and he has kept his word. An improved contract for Bernal? Now, according to MARCA, Bernal's progress has led Barcelona to begin considering an improvement to his contract.
"Only when we don't have the talent at home should Barça be able to go to the market and attract the best talent. Like Harry Kane: a player who connects with teammates, with talent and an eye for goal. We are working on it," he said. Kane has emerged as one of Barcelona's candidates to replace Lewandowski, with his contract at Bayern Munich expiring in 2027.
Then there's the issue of the Sports Law, which I don't follow, that there's a three-year statute of limitations. I've advocated for much longer statutes of limitations for these types of crimes," he added, airing his grievances.
We will come back. We need to start from the beginning [of games]. When you see Atlético players, they had more will, more hunger. And this is what I want from the first minute. We didn't show that in the first half.
One of the players FC Barcelona have been following and monitoring is Ruud Nijstad. The 18-year-old Dutch centre-back is regarded as one of the outstanding prospects of his generation in the Netherlands. Despite his age, the centre-back has already played nine matches for FC Twente in the Eredivisie. Standing at 1.93 metres tall, he is a powerful defender with presence and great potential.
FC Barcelona reports that it sent a formal letter this Saturday, February 14th, to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), addressed to its President, the President of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), the head of VAR and the Director of Legal Advice, in which the Club expresses its deep concern about the repeated homogeneous criteria, the statement read.
Barcelona lost exciting youngster Dro Fernandez in the January transfer window, in a move that upset manager Hansi Flick, with the teenager deciding to leave the club and join Paris Saint-Germain. Dro's release clause was just €6 million, although PSG did end up paying slightly more, which may well have encouraged the Ligue 1 club in their pursuit of the midfielder. According to RAC1, Barcelona are now taking measures in a bid to try and prevent a similar thing happening in the future.
The 18-year-old La Masia graduate, who had made his first-team breakthrough earlier this season under Hansi Flick, signed for French champions PSG in the winter. Dro's contract had a €6 million release clause, and he decided to make use of it to secure a move away, even though in the end PSG ended up paying Barça around €8.5 million - thanks to the good relationship between the two clubs.
Following the club's decision to end its relationship with the European Super League Company and to formally submit its application for readmission, the EFC Board of Directors has unanimously approved the reinstatement of FC Barcelona, in accordance with its Statutes.
No one can be considered a true fan of a sports team unless they believe the rest of the world is trying to get them. The "us versus them" mentality helps fuel our love for our favorite teams, which makes it even sweeter when that one enemy we hate above all others is finally conquered. Barcelona have had to deal with quite a few villains in their history, with their connection to Catalonia inviting some extra challenges that went far beyond normal sports competition.
According to Diario Sport (via Tribuna), Milan are interested in signing Gerard Martin from Barcelona. Not only that, but they claim that the Rossoneri are willing to table an offer in the region of €25m for the defender and that Barcelona may well accept it. Last summer, it was reported that the Spaniard could make a move to the Premier League, with Wolves making an offer. However, it was not accepted and Martin ended up remaining, especially after Inigo Martinez's exit.
