La Masia dominates the world

Oxford, Cambridge, La Sorbonne, Bologna, Stanford, Harvard… there could be a lively debate there. In football, there is no: The leading academy of the king of sports on the planet is called La Masiaevidence that is already a second brand of universal reach for FC Barcelona, ​​​​​​the club that in 1979 made the lucky strategic decision of betting on a residence for its youth team. This Sunday, July 14, 2024, is being added to the list of appointed days in a school that has provided references for football for different generations and for some time now, genders as well. The final matches of the Euro Cup and the Copa América crowned some of the footballers who were raised at La Masia, each with some transcendent merit. Euro 2024 leaves Lamine Yamal, the teenage talent who played a large part of the tournament even at the age of 16, like top assistant of the competition by giving 4 goals, and elevates Dani Olmowhich until the age of cadet was trained in the school of culé, such as top scorer of the tournament with 3. His decisive contribution also explains why the Spanish team was declared European champion and, with 4., is the team with the most trophies in that record.

On the other side of the lake, Leo Messi He went from the tears of his injury to the smile of advance to the Copa América final against Colombia, to add another title with Argentina to his impressive personal record, added to the victories he achieved at Barça brings him to 44 collective victories, to which he added many individual distinction, with the 8 Ballon d’Ors he has won. the most famous footballer in history. At 37 years old, Messi no longer plays for Barça, but he was, is and always will be an icon of Barcelona fans, like Pelé to Santos although he ended his days in the fields in Cosmos.

There is a 20 year difference between Messi and Lamine. Lamine, a native of Esplugues de Llobregat who has always lived in the Matarones neighborhood of Rocafonda, received recognition in Berlin that elevated him as the best young player of the Euro Cup then be again decided in the final against England (2-1) when scoring the first goal to his friend Nico Williams. Who knows if that prize would still be too small for him if he scored the decisive goal of the final in the last period with that shot that Jordan Pickford, English goalkeeper, predicted for him, before Mikel Oyarzabal got his golden page in history by scoring the winning goal. Lamine just scored a great goal this Euro Cup in the semifinal against France and has already established himself as a talent who, early in his career, is already on the Olympus of the best.

The main matches also included other footballers who grew up during their training at La Masia in decisive games: Marc Cucurella, a native of Alella, is, like Lamine, assisted one of the two goals in the final against England, which also gave the final 2-1 in the 86th minute. Later, Olmo, son of Terrassa, He is not satisfied with his status as the leading scorer of the Euro Cup, but rather between the sticks, 2-2 was avoided English in another transcendental action by a culé youth player. In that regard, he almost played Iker Casillas against Arjen Robben in the World Cup final in South Africa in 2010.

In the semi-final between England and the NetherlandsFurthermore, another footballer who grew up in La Masia as Xavi Simons He was the star by scoring the first of the game’s goals for Holland, which although it didn’t serve to put the ‘orange’ team in the finals it proved another player’s relevance on the international scene who was brought up in the school of culé. In the European champions, in a more secondary role, there will always be the culé youth squad Fermin Lopezwho in a year went from playing on loan in the Primera RFEF with Linares to becoming Euro Cup champions, after shining with 11 goals in the Barça first team.

We must not forget, moreover, that in women’s football, Barça enjoys the last three winners of the Ballon d’Or with Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatíalthough from the culé quarry itself it is only second, because the forward went through the well-known and leading women’s football training schools of Sabadell and Espanyol.

It is also in memory that picture of the 2010 Ballon d’Orwith three players trained The Masia number Leo Messi, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniestascorer of the most important goal in the history of the Spanish team, in the final against Holland in the 2010 World Cup.

They were there too Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Sergi Busquets, Pedro Rodríguez, Víctor Valdés or Cesc Fàbregas.

All of them These are just the tip of the iceberg of the contribution to world football of La Masia, by the way also the place where a legend of the bench, Pep Guardiola, gave his first instructions as a coach, when he rose from Third to Second B with reserve team.