FCBARCELONA.CAT

25.11.2009 14:30

Another triumph for the Barça academy

Sandra Sarmiento

Barça beat Inter on Tuesday evening with seven players that have come up through the Club’s youth academy, La Masia. Inter on the other hand did not use a single Italian.

FC Barcelona doesn’t make sense without the home-grown players and with Guardiola in charge this policy is being taken to its furthest extreme. The footballing style “made in Barça” was on display again on Tuesday and once again delighted football fans worldwide. And all this without their two of their biggest stars.

Seven to none

It could have been a hatful of goals. But Barça’s performance against Inter goes way beyond the result itself. Barça did the business with no fewer than seven players brought up through the Club’s youth ranks: Valdés, Piqué, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Pedro and Iniesta. In the second half, two more home-grown players joined the party: Bojan and Dos Santos. As for Inter – four Brazilians, four Argentines, one Rumanian, a Serb and a Cameroonian. Money isn’t everything.

Two different styles

Inter have won the Italian league for the past three seasons and are currently leading the way yet again. And yet Barça dominated on Tuesday night leaving Valdés with very little work to do. Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta kept the visitors chasing possession and limited them to their own half for most of the match. Barça enjoyed more than 60% of possession and denied Inter any real goal scoring opportunities. A way of playing football that is Barça through and through.

Piqué and Pedro

We already knew that Piqué is one of the best centre halves in Europe but on Tuesday night he showed that he has the goal scoring instinct of a centre forward. Just ask Julio Cesar. The Catalan defender has scored three goals so far this season and has already equalled his tally from last season. As for Pedro, he has already chalked up ten goals in his first season in the senior squad. A new pearl from the academy who just two years ago was playing in the third division. At Barça, the total of goals scored by home-grown players far exceeds the total scored by the foreign stars. At Inter, only Balotelli, with four, scores for the Italians.