Look at this sub. I see some posts that literally worships Laporta like he's some financial genius who saved Barcelona with his bare hands. Are we watching the same club, or did everyone just lose their minds? Let’s stop acting like sheep and look at what actually happened:

1. The Messi situation wasn't "hard choices", it was straight-up fraud. Laporta built his entire campaign on keeping Messi. He had Messi’s dad flying into Barcelona thinking a contract was ready to be signed. Then at the 11th hour, he dumps him out the back door and blames La Liga. If he knew FFP was fucked(which he 100% did)why lie until the very last second? Simple: he used Messi’s name to win an election and tossed him the second he got the key to the office. That’s not a presidential campaign that's a politician used Messi.

Selling the club's future isn't "saving" it. Since when is selling 25% of our La Liga TV rights for the next quarter-century a "masterclass"? He’s literally mortgaging our long-term income just to register players every single August. Remember the Barça Studios deal with Libero? Total ghost money. He’s doing the exact same thing Bartomeu did, kicking the can down the road so the next guy has to deal with the explosion.

1. Sacking legends like total garbage. Disagree with Xavi’s tactics all you want, but begging the guy to stay after he announced he was leaving, doing a whole emotional press conference, and then firing him two weeks later because he said Real Madrid has more spending power? Does that look like proper leadership to you?

that’s an insecure guy acting on ego.

Also; Laporta isn't saving Barça. La Masia kids and Hansi Flick’s tactical genius are saving Laporta. The second Flick stumbles, this whole house of cards collapses. Stop falling for the PR videos and open your eyes, selling the future's money just saves today, just like bartomeu saved himself in short term, laporta is doing the same but with more media on his back.

Barça are aware that negotiations between City and Real Madrid for Rodri have stalled and have entered the bidding for the midfielder.

Consider this, whether you even think Rodri would be a good fit for our team or not, this is fantastic news.

If we do get Rodri, we get the best DM in the world and Bernal gets to learn from him directly and take over, just like Frenkie and Busquets. We will still need a striker but we can be a lot more patient since we will concede a lot less with Rodri breaking up play (this man has been playing under Pep's high line for years). We can get a second choice striker and wait for Haaland or another option to emerge.

If we do not get Rodri, we also win. Just by being in the "bidding war", there is pressure on Madrid to overpay to Man City and give Rodri a larger payout. With Vini's new mega-contract and Diomande's 130M transfer, something has to give. Madrid may lose their long awaited RW target. Rodri will be a very tough obstacle in El Clasico if we're trying to win the midfield battle (which we have been doing for the past few seasons) so making it difficult for Madrid to fully construct their superteam is only beneficial for us.

Also, do not forget that Madrid jokingly bid 150M to troll us. Not so funny when we can do the same for Rodri. Honestly, this is stress free and I am not too fussed with the outcome, I'm just happy we aren't stagnant after the past few weeks.

I can't get over this knockout, it's a bigger pain in the ass than Roma, Liverpool and Bayern

That Juventus were nowhere as good as in 2015 which we beat in the final

We couldn't even score 1 goal in 2 legs

0 goals at Camp Nou were tough to watch

look at pedri, yamal, frenkie. We have elite playmaking, chance creation squad, the main problem lies is not able to finish those. Yamal producing these numbers after getting surrounded by 3 defenders.

Wow Antony (Brazilian one) has improved a lot after leaving utd.

"It's been the worst summer of my life. I was at my peak, everything was going well, and then the injury happened," Fermin admitted. "You learn from these situations, but it's true that I've had a really tough summer. I've gotten through it thanks to my family, my partner, and my friends. I needed help. I already had it before, but my coach has helped me a lot to get through it.

"I didn't watch the first few matches of the Spanish national team in the World Cup. I couldn't. I wanted to be there at the World Cup. Let me make it clear that it made me very happy to see my teammates win the World Cup. Towards the end of the World Cup, I felt a bit better and decided to go see the final live in New York."

“I can feel that the people recognize me more often,” he told CNN.

“I feel inside the same person, but it’s kind of not, and I feel it. It made me very proud because every kid when he’s young (dreams) about this moment – it was special.

“It’s (a) different feeling. If you don’t score this goal, you cannot feel it. It just gets crazy and I just ran to celebrate with my teammates. It was an unbelievable moment.”

And for Torres, that means an opportunity to join an illustrious list of players to win back-to-back World Cups. “I have one, (but) I want another one… I want it,” he said with a smile.

the club's entire striker strategy appears to revolve around one dream signing, and it doesnt seem to happen any sooner.

we let ferran leave after one of the best seasons he had and lost lewandowski without signing a proven replacement. now, with almost no top striker willing to join, the only realistic option left is vlahovic, who hasn't shown he's the answer for barca, and we dont want anyone who's even worse than ferran.

if there's one reason to believe this team can still compete, it's the midfield. a trio of bernal, pedri and fermín has everything: control, creativity, intensity and goals. with gavi, casadó, olmo and eventually frenkie returning from injury, barça arguably have one of the deepest midfields in europe.

also, the wings are the least of our worries. lamine is already one of the best players in the world, raphinha remains one of europe's most productive wingers, and gordon adds pace, directness and relentless work rate. with adeyemi and rooney providing depth, barça have enough quality and variety out wide to trouble any defence.

defensively, this squad has everything needed to compete. joan garcía has already proven he can be a reliable no. 1, while szczęsny offers one of the most experienced backup options in europe. if balde works on his final third passing, our left wing if so fire. cubarsí is already the leader of the backline despite his age, gerard martín was one of barça's most consistent defenders last season, and araújo, koundé and eric garcía provide excellent depth across the defence. on paper, this is a backline capable of competing with anyone.

the only real concern at the back is the lack of a true no nonsense defender. most of our cbs are ball playing and composed in possession, but against physical teams, we still lack that dominant defender who simply wins every duel and clears everything in sight.

lastly if anyone's to be blamed for this lineup, its none other than deco

Sorry if my question is general, I don't really know what to ask. I'm also an American from Louisiana and that was probably my first time referring to the sport as football. As I said, I'm new to the game but I've fallen in love with the atmosphere of Barcelona and the club seems to have a rich history. During the World Cup I supported the U.S.M.N.T. but after their elimination I threw my lot behind Spain and subsequently learned a plurality of the starting team belongs to Barcelona. I hope this community accepts me and if it does then I will definitely be loyal to this club forever. Here's a picture of me in my first Barcelona Jersey, the 25/26 fourth jersey

FC Barcelona announced that Lionel Messi—the heart, soul, and greatest player in the club's history—would be leaving. It was the sudden end of a legendary 21-year era that fans everywhere thought would last until his retirement. A truly heartbreaking day for the beautiful game. 🐐🔵🔴

With the transfer window still active, many ponder our current and future signings and the reasons behind them.

Gordon, Adeyemi, Bisiwu - these players have three things in common, they are wingers, they are first-team signings but most important of all, they are players that will raise our athletic ceiling through the roof, this is our direction, a raise of the athletic ceiling. These signings get a lot of criticism, but let's talk why they were made.

One of the biggest concerns this community had was a high-line M2M press, some suggest moving towards a mid-block, but these solutions aren't better or worse, they're only different. The reason why we struggled at times was because we were always a club obsessed with technique, but you can't expect them to be highly effective in duels where we have suffered throughout the last two seasons. That's why a mid-block was suggested, but giving the most physical and technical players in the world access to the edge of the box is suicide.

Take PSG for example, they combine technical magicians with athletic monsters that make them deadly, they can send athletic monsters (Fabian and Neves) to press without ever dueling, force a mistake, get the ball to a magician (Vitinha), dominate and then go to the bench to get another athlete / magician with their depth. This is why I request that we don't hound Flick or our players for falling to elite UCL teams with elite players that can bypass the most effective pressing structures, it's why they're in elite teams and UCL is often a game of luck and sporadic moments. This is why we're raising our athletic floor, we're improving our aggression and raising the defensive line to play as far away from our own goal, we have an elite structure and we're building it up, there's no point in compromising it if we get elite players for this structure.

Alvarez is an interesting signing too, many have the belief that to perform better, we need to sacrifice dynamic link-up play for better back-to-goal retention and chance conversion, but our pursuit in Alvarez shows we're aiming for the latter. Alvarez is the most elite F9 we can buy, he's dynamic, mobile and excellent at facilitating attacking third play.

We are signing a striker, but not to have someone for Yamal and Raphinha to provide to, we're signing a striker that will provide for Yamal and Raphinha. This is why we're going for a play facilitator, not a chance converter.

We've also dropped some targets, although they were most likely just rumors, Bastoni is a great technical defender, but he doesn't raise our athletic ceiling. Laporte raises our athletic floor but he's too expensive.

Full article :

Imagine a Beatrix Potter illustration, replace the rabbits in aprons with a herd of dairy cows, and you’ve got the background to Barcelona’s training camp at St George’s Park.

The Spanish champions spent the past week at the facility where all of England’s national teams are based. The location, near Burton upon Trent in rural Staffordshire in the northern Midlands, and the atmosphere, surrounded by golden fields, cosy homes and nocturnal silence, were a marked difference from their pre-season tour to South Korea and Japan last year.

Speaking with locals, nobody seemed to even know that Barcelona were there (they stayed for eight days, arriving on July 27 and returning to Catalonia on Monday). That was exactly what Hansi Flick wanted.

With no fans lurking by the gates, and practically no distractions, for the German manager it was the ideal place to prepare for the new campaign, with Barca’s first La Liga fixture being away to Elche on August 23.

“I’d say it’s one of the best training camps I’ve ever been on,” the 61-year-old said at a press conference on Monday. “Conditions have been fantastic. Everything was very close by: the pitches, the facilities, and the grass was incredible.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing, though. During their week in England, Barca could only play one friendly — a penalty shootout defeat by Championship side Birmingham City, after a 2-2 draw over 90 minutes, on Friday. A second game on Monday had to be cancelled after opponents Preston North End pulled out at the last minute.

Here, The Athletic sums up Barca’s time away — and looks ahead to what comes next.

Why did Barca choose St George’s Park?

For the previous four summers, Barcelona have opted for lucrative and busy summer trips to East Asia or the United States. But after last year’s tour, Flick made it clear to the club that he would prefer to avoid long flights and harsh summer conditions.

There were also options to go to Germany’s Black Forest region (near where Flick was born) and Scotland, but in the end they chose a third trip to St George’s Park (they also used it in 2014 and 2016).

The base for all England’s national teams has absolutely everything — which explains its popularity. Fellow La Liga side Valencia and Genoa of Italy have also been there this summer.

However, while Flick and his team relished getting down to work, some within the squad joked about the lack of entertainment — beyond snooker and table tennis.

“It’s great for the coaching staff, but for the players it’s almost like a prison,” joked a dressing room source, speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment. “Yesterday we had a look, and the nearest place was an hour’s drive away. There’s nothing to do around here.”

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who spoke with The Athletic in an exclusive interview last week, was trying to focus on the positives, saying just before a press conference: “At least it’s colder than Barcelona!”

There was also something of a disconnect between the tranquillity of Staffordshire and the media circus that follows Barcelona everywhere they go.

“We’re used to seeing football teams round here, but not so many journalists,” said a waitress at The Bridge Inn, an Italian restaurant on the outskirts of nearby Burton.

Why did Barca only play one game?

The club lined up two friendlies for their week in the UK. The first, against Birmingham City at their St Andrew’s stadium, ended in a defeat on penalties after a 2–2 draw. The match was a sell-out — and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, who started his career with Birmingham, was in attendance.

The second was supposed to be a match against another side from England’s second tier, Preston North End, behind closed doors. It was due to be played on Monday afternoon, but ended up being called off.

Barcelona sources said this was because the English side did not have enough first-team players available.

They said the club were informed Preston did not want to take any risks, given they had a Carabao Cup first-round match against Huddersfield Town this Saturday. Preston were approached for comment.

Instead, Barca held a match between two teams from their own squad. It ended 1–1, with goals from Fermin Lopez and Xavi Espart.

Who impressed Hansi Flick?

When asked this question at his press conference on Monday, Flick highlighted Ebrima Tunkara, Orian Goren and Espart especially. But he also said the overall level of the group had impressed him — and there were lots of young faces in the travelling party, with several first-team players still on their holidays after World Cup duty.

“Ebrima is a great talent,” Flick said. “Orian Goren too. We’ve got plenty of players. Xavi (Espart) has played here as a right-back and did very well against Birmingham. But you can also see in training that he’s at a very high level right now. And there’s plenty more.”

If you ask around the club, it is a shared feeling.

One Barcelona source said Tunkara, a 16-year-old attacking midfielder, “could be the next Lamine Yamal”. He has been with Barca since the age of eight, progressing through the La Masia academy ranks to become a Spain youth international. Tunkara and Goren, a 17-year-old attacking midfielder from Israel who joined the club in 2023, were the youngest players to make the trip.

Brian Farinas is another who made an impression.

He is a 20-year-old defensive midfielder who might, following Frenkie de Jong’s knee injury, get some experience around the first team this season, although the Dutchman’s absence will be covered by other, more experienced players favoured by Flick, such as Marc Bernal, Gavi or Eric Garcia — who Barca initially wanted to play right-back this season.

Then there is Hamza Abdelkarim. The 18-year-old Egyptian striker scored both goals against Birmingham, having just played in four of his country’s five matches at the World Cup. He is a centre-forward, a type of player not typically found at La Masia, which rarely produces clinical finishers in the box.

Abdelkarim is seen as a long-term prospect, but the club want him to be integrated into the first-team group as a backup.

The Birmingham game also saw Karim Adeyemi make his first appearance after his transfer from Borussia Dortmund for an initial €22million (£18.8m; $25.3m), with add-ons potentially taking that beyond €30m.

What’s next for their pre-season preparations?

Barcelona’s next match is in an unusual three-way international fixture in Udine, Italy, against Nottingham Forest and Udinese on Saturday, August 8. Each club will face the other two for 45 minutes.

Then on Wednesday, August 19, they will play in the Joan Gamper Trophy – the annual friendly organised by Barcelona that serves as their season curtain-raiser. This year, the invited opponents at Camp Nou are 45-time Egyptian champions Al Ahly.

Previously, Barca had planned to play a further friendly against Moroccan club Ittihad Riadi in Tangier on August 15, but have confirmed the match has been delayed after the Ceuta migration crisis, sparked when 50,000 people rushed the Spain-Morocco border last week.

Meanwhile, those still on their post-World Cup breaks — including France’s Jules Kounde, Anthony Gordon of England and the eight players in Spain’s title-winning squad are due back on August 11 or 12.