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Barcelona ran riot against Real Sociedad in La Liga on Sunday, smashing six goals past Real Sociedad to claim all three points at Anoeta.
It’s an impressive win by Ronald Koeman’s side with the final goal of the 6-1 victory catching the eye of supporters who could not fail to notice it involved five players who came through the ranks at La Masia, the club’s famed youth academy.
Oscar Mingueza, Jordi Alba, Riqui Puig, Lionel Messi, and Ilaix Moriba were all involved in the build-up before the ball came back to the captain to tuck away his second of the match.
Barcelona’s 100th goal of the season: an exquisite combination between 5 La Masia players culminating in Messi side-footing in off the post to put the team 6-1 up at Anoeta. Wow.
Un but 100% Masia. Mingueza-Messi-Ilaix-Messi-Alba-Riqui-Alba-Messi
Coach Ronald Koeman has been happy to hand the club’s young players plenty of game time this season. Mingueza and Moriba have broken into the first-team, while youngsters such as Pedri and Sergino Dest have been brought in and cemented their places in the starting XI.
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Koeman Told to Trust in Youth
Koeman’s willingness to trust in youth this season has been a refreshing surprise, and the Dutch coach has been told to continue looking to the club’s young players rather than buying more established stars.
Barcelona B manager Francisco Javier García Pimienta told Diario Sport that the club must do all it can to nurture and keep hold of their brightest talents.
“Ilaix is doing very well, he’s a success for us, when you’re in the B team you are forming players with aim of them arriving to the first team and if that happens I’m the happiest guy in the world,” he said. “We have to make the effort with the players who are good enough, who have a first-team profile, they have earned it. We try and make players who can arrive in the first team, it’s better to stick with what we have than going elsewhere to find it.”
García Pimienta works with some of Barca’s highly-rated starlets in the B team and has seen players such as Ronald Araujo, Ansu Fati, and Riqui Puig all make the step up in recent seasons.
Koeman Talks Barca Improvements
Koeman seems to be building a young and competitive team at Barcelona, and there’s no doubt his side after improved after a disappointing start to the 2020-21 campaign.
The Catalan giants remain in contention in La Liga and the Copa del Rey, and Koeman has explained what’s changed in his team during the season, as reported by Sport.
“At the start of the season, we had a lot of problems. We have changed a mountain of things. Any squad needs time to adapt to a new coach’s idea and project,” he said. “At the start, we weren’t clinical and made defensive mistakes. Now we’re much more comfortable on the pitch and it tells.”
Barcelona’s future looks bright with a raft of young players making an impression at the Camp Nou. The club’s tricky financial situation means it may be will difficult to land big-name signings this summer which means more youngsters could get the chance to impres.
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