What a week for FC Barcelona. As the two giants of Madrid were busy contesting a 1-1 draw and keeping the Blaugrana alive in the title race, the Catalan club was busy electing a new president. As predicted, it wasn’t close, with Laporta winning close to 55% of the vote. Any fears that Toni Freixa would find a way past Laporta and Victor Font were quickly squashed as votes began to be counted.
Joan Laporta begins his second stint in charge of the club, with many of the same challenges that he faced when he began his first term. Though he faced criticism in his previous time in charge from 2003 to 2010, serving two mandates, memories of the trophies won under his leadership was certainly reflected in the polls.
Not to bring down the mood, but the issues facing the club are not only similar to what he faced back in 2003, but the financial figures are a lot worse. The gross debt of the club is know sitting at 1.2 billion euros, and the pandemic has ensured that it will be difficult to eat into that with fan-driven revenue anytime soon. Just as immediate and just as important, 33-year-old Lionel Messi (who voted in this election) can head elsewhere in June for free. When Laporta last took over, Messi was a spritely 16-year-old looking for a chance with the first team.
Yet, this week showed that despite the doom and gloom facing the club behind the scenes, FC Barcelona is far from dead and buried. Looking away from the first team for a moment, Barcelona B came back from 2-0 down to demolish Llagostera 4-2. Barcelona Femení, meanwhile, celebrated Monday’s International Women’s Day with a 3-0 win in the league (where they are still perfect). This followed a comfortable 4-0 domination of Fortuna Hjørring midweek in the Champions League Round of 16.
Not playing with Barcelona B this week was 18-year-old Ilaix Moriba, who was instead scoring his first goal for the senior team in a 2-0 win over Osasuna.
The integration of youth was expected this season as many veterans were shown the door over the summer – but I’m not sure if anyone expected to see this many young players breaking through and making an impact.
This is still a lot of work to be done. Laporta has a real mess on his hands. Koeman will be facing off against the same team that beat Barcelona to the Spanish Super Cup in the Copa del Rey final. Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid gave Barcelona a lifeline in La Liga, but their fate still feels a bit out of their hands. Yet, this was still the best week in recent memory for the Catalan club. A new era dawns.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
