If only it were just Rodri

Barcelona have reached the point where simply seeing Rodri and Lamine Yamal in the starting lineup makes it difficult to imagine them losing. At Mestalla, the announcement of the team seemed to give them an advantage before the match had even begun.

That impression reflects more than two intimidating names. Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have spent two years shaping a team that now looks prepared for almost anything. The squad can handle two matches a week, with around 20 players capable of starting. Flick has full authority in the dressing room, and the club’s footballing idea has become increasingly polished without losing its original identity: vertigo, a high defensive line and pressure that overwhelms opponents.

The risks are now better controlled because the movements are more precise. Barcelona attack with everyone and at extraordinary speed. On television, it is a pleasure to watch. For opponents, it is a nightmare. The combinations between Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Gordon and Fermín around or inside the penalty area are extremely difficult to read, especially when they play first-time passes. Triangles, squares and one-twos turn the attack into geometry.

Fermín looks possessed. Missing the World Cup has made him voracious, as if someone owes him something. When Barcelona lose the ball, the team reorganises almost by instinct, occupying its assigned spaces and suffocating opponents with short, intense collective runs.

Rodri has intensified that order. He is a leader in midfield, with Pedri now acting as his right-hand man, a partnership comparable to having a prime minister beside you. The balls they recover arrive at their teammates’ feet like velvet, never carelessly given away.

Behind the entire construction stands a Catalan defence formed by Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia, Cubarsí, Gerard Martín and Xavi Espart. That local identity adds another source of pride to a team already playing at an exceptional level. They also defend superbly, which is the point. In Valencia’s sweltering heat, the only concern was that Gordon might suffer a fainting spell. He did not.