Barça always gives you reasons to be proud, by Carles Rexach

The day that the Barça Celebrating its 122nd anniversary our club gave us one more reason to be proud. This time it was not with the men’s soccer team or with the sections, so award-winning, but thanks to the women’s team, that last season they conquered a historic treble and placed five of their players among the nominees for the Golden Ball. He took the trophy Alexia putellas, our captain, and from these lines I take the opportunity to congratulate her, as well as the rest of the finalists. Ten years after the historic photo of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta on the podium of the precious trophy, Alexia, Jenny and Martens they took their witness in Paris.

Yesterday’s result is not surprising. To this day, the Barça It is well above its rivals, especially in Primera Iberdrola. Barça players play something else. The difference is such that before each game the usual question is by how many goals they will win. On Europe the group that now directs Jonatan Giráldez He is also the clear favorite to revalidate the Champions League title and I think that, except for surprises, ahead comes an era of dominance for the Barça women’s team.

Not only the female Barça made us the Catalans feel proud yesterday. On Paris also collected the award Kopa, which credits the most valuable young man, Pedri, a special talent who in his first season as a culé became a fundamental part of the team at only 18 years old and helped Barça to win the Copa del Rey.

And although now I am no longer in it Barça, I also congratulate Leo Messi for his seventh Golden Ball, something unusual and only within the reach of a footballer like him. If we refer to the best player in Europe, it is clear that he is Messi. On the other hand, beyond the Copa América and his Copa del Rey with Barça, if we stuck more to the titles and the performance, I would have given it to Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern striker had just won the sextete the previous season – in which the award was void – and last year in addition to winning the Bundesliga finished the championship with 41 goals, surpassing the record of Gerd Müller. I think the fact that Leo Messi play now in France it has also helped him win the award.

Munich’s mission is not impossible

Three weeks after reaching the bench of the Barça, the hand of Xavi Hernandez it starts to show. The team has grown a lot in attack and provokes many scoring chances. Although it is not always correct, the feeling of danger in the rival area is very different. The Barça Now he goes out to work, he looks for the opposite goal more directly. In addition, a component of luck is added, which, unlike before, is now favorable. However, the issue to improve remains reliability in defense, but there is still room for improvement.

In fact, and despite the challenge, I think that Barça is capable of winning at Bayern on Munich next December 8. The fact that the Germans are already classified and that the team of Xavi can get more rolled make me optimistic. I prefer to think only about Champions, for now, not to mention the Europa League.