Valencia vs Barcelona: Hansi Flick starts three 17-year-old's in La Liga win
The average age of the Barcelona team that started against Los Che at the weekend was 24 years. With Ilkay Gundogan, Pedi, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati and Ronald Araujo all out with injuries and new signing Dani Olmo not yet registered, the German tactician was forced to give starts to couple of teenagers.
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FollowBarcelona began their 2024-25 campaign with a 2-1 La Liga win over Valencia at Mestalla on Saturday night. The Catalan giants came from behind to secure all three points and register their first victory under new boss Hansi Flick. With Ilkay Gundogan, Pedi, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati and Ronald Araujo all out with injuries and new signing Dani Olmo not yet registered, the German tactician was forced to give starts to couple of teenagers.
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The average age of the Barcelona team that started against Los Che at the weekend was 24 years, with three players, defender Pau Cubarsi, midfielder Marc Bernal and Spanish winger Lamine Yamal, just 17-years-old. All three gave a good account of themselves at Mestalla and helped Blaugrana make a positive start to the new campaign.
Yamal, who has been a regular in the Barca playing XI since last season, was coming into the 2024-25 campaign on the back of stellar performances for Spain in the Euro 2024 triumph. The winger, once again played a key role on Saturday, providing the assist for Robert Lewandowski to level the score in the first-half injury time. In the second-half, Yamal made a beautiful 360 degree turn to beat Javi Guerra before releasing Ferran Torres on goal, but the 24-year-old failed to find the back of the net.
Cubarsi, who made 24 appearances for Barca last season, looked a bit vulnerable in the initial stages as he came close to scoring two own goals after deflecting from crosses. Nevertheless, as the game progressed, the 1.84m tall defender grew in confidence and made a crucial goal-line clearance in the first-half injury time. The save proved to be the deciding factor as Flick's side prevailed by a one goal margin.
Bernal and 20-year-old Marc Casado formed the midfield-duo. Both the youngsters controlled the proceedings to good effect, worked their socks off, were involved in breakup play and nullified the opposition playmakers. Flick is unlikely to make too many changes to the side when Barca hosts Athletic Bilbao on Saturday as he wouldn't want to rush the players who coming back from injuries.
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