A hug, Gavi, by Joan Josep Pallàs

And, suddenly, Barça has been transmuted into a steamroller. And the Barcelona fans, as well as the journalists who follow the Blaugrana team, look at each other, quietly remembering how they judged the same footballers last season, because today they seem different. The fabulous transformation must be attributed to Hansi Flick, and Joan Laporta for choosing him, because he is the new one here and everyone else was already there.

Flick, unexpressive but convincing, speaks through what his team transmits, which is much more than expected at this point. The formula is ambitious, so what is commendable is that the message has penetrated so quickly. Defense planted parallel to the midfield line (high risk), high pace of the ball, little pause, suffocating pressure and electric combinations in any area of ​​the field. The metamorphosis affects the footballers who already looked good (Cubarsí goes from lesson to lesson and Lamine Yamal is a star), those who were “yes, yes or no” (Koundé and Pedri) and those who were considered liquidated. (Lewandowski top scorer and Raphinha credible even as captain).

Flick has transformed Barça and now a footballer full of energy comes along

Barça, leader in the League, has overcome losses that hurt without complaining, has taken advantage of a Masia of repaired prestige (Casadó) and has revived a tribe that in the summer, a period of illusions, lay on the couch of the lamentations with fear of Mbappé’s Madrid. This week, Barça takes on Bayern and the white team without pause and the culerada is all they want. Unheard. If football is a state of mind, as Jorge Valdano said, Barça has turned the score around.

Welcome, Gavi

It’s hard not to love Gavi, a kid who is passionate about football and shows himself without hesitation. Players like this quickly reach the guts of the culé, a fan with a sixth sense to distinguish between lukewarm and authentic footballers. Gavi belongs to the lineage in which heroes like Neeskens (a minute of silence in Montjuïc, very little) and Puyol stand out, guys who gave everything simply because they were born that way. In the first part of the documentary Gavi: the return broadcast by Barça One, that purity is clear by following the Andalusian’s adventures from when he falls injured until he returns to the pitch. “The foundations of his world shook,” Pablo Merino, head of the physiotherapist department who has been his shadow during these 11 months of absence, rightly says. It is moving to follow the entire process, from the unbearable postoperative pain, through an understandable first month of sadness (“I didn’t want to see anyone, I was alone at home,” Gavi confesses), continuing with anecdotes such as the creation of a playlist ( Gavi in ​​process) and ending with the bright day in which Dr. Ricard Pruna informs him that he will do the training with the group.

For all these reasons, it is exciting to see Gavi return to where he likes most, a soccer field. The accompaniment of the Montjuïc stands contained immense affection. Pedri came out, gave him the armband, his teammates applauded him and Iñigo Martínez was seen raising his arms as if celebrating a goal. Surely it is much more than that. The question is what Flick will do with Gavi and vice versa. Because, seeing what the German asks of his players, this one that comes to him now fits him from head to toe.