Internal Competition Boosts Barcelona

SEVILLA, MONDAY – The fierce rivalry of Barcelona is not currently happening with other teams, but among their own players. In order to get more playing time, Barca players are competing to perform optimally to catch the eye of coach Hansi Flick. This tendency was also evident when Barca defeated the host Sevilla, 4-1, in the continuation of the Spanish League at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Monday (10/2/2025) early morning WIB.

Recently, Flick has never had difficulty finding replacements when a player is injured. The substitute players have almost equal quality. When Frenkie de Jong was injured, Flick found a gem in Marc Casado. The 21-year-old defensive midfielder performed well to fill the gap left by De Jong.

Thanks to his impressive performance, Casado has gained high trust from Flick. This almost caused De Jong to lose his place in Barca's midfield as he needed more time to return to his pre-injury form. To maintain his position as a starter, De Jong is striving to return to his best playing form.

In addition to the midfield, the competition also spreads to the attack line. Robert Lewandowski's position is being tested by the impressive performance of Ferran Torres. The former Manchester City player has proven himself worthy of a place in the main team. In the match against Valencia in the Spanish King's Cup quarter-finals, Ferran stole the attention by scoring a hat-trick.

Barca supporters were divided between favoring Ferran as the team's main striker this season or retaining Lewandowski. Ferran has an advantage in mobility that Lewandowski does not possess. However, Lewandowski's goal-scoring instinct is too significant to be negated. For the time being, Lewandowski remains the primary choice as the central striker, while Ferran "concedes" by playing slightly wider.

Meanwhile, the competition among players in the back line is equally interesting. The position of center-back Inigo Martinez seems to be at risk of being displaced at any time if he performs below expectations. This is due to the rising performance of Eric Garcia.

Eric has been able to perform consistently every time he receives trust from Flick. For example, against Sevilla, Eric, who came on as a substitute, scored the final goal to secure Barca's victory at the end of the match. Competition among players is the desire of every coach because it drives them to strive to be the best in order to get more playing opportunities, even becoming a main player.

"Ferran can play in several different positions. I am very happy with his work. He is very professional and trains very well. I enjoy working with the players on this team. We have a lot of potential, especially with players from La Masia," said Flick.

As if not willing to give up his position to other players, Lewandowski showed his teeth in the match against Sevilla by scoring Barca's opening goal in the 7th minute. Sevilla was able to reply one minute later through Ruben Vargas' action. Fermin Lopez then made Barca turn things around when the second half had only been going on for one minute.

Raphinha, a player who is almost always Flick's mainstay in every match, proved his quality when he widened Barca's lead in the 55th minute. At the end of the match, Eric closed Barca's victory with a header from a narrow angle. Barca finally managed to maintain a 4-1 lead until the end of the match despite playing with 10 men when Fermin received a red card for his brutal tackle on Djibril Sow.

"We had to win to stay in the title race and keep pushing. We played well and the result is perfect because we feel very good. The team had to suffer with one less player, but we scored again. It's a step forward," said Inigo Martinez.

Thanks to the victory over Sevilla, Barca successfully reduced the gap with Atletico Madrid in second place to one point. Meanwhile, with Real Madrid at the top, Barca's gap is now only two points. The Madrid derby draw between Atletico and Real Madrid benefits Barca who now have the opportunity to overthrow Real if they can perform consistently with the depth of the squad. (REUTERS)