Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has spoken of his pride in seeing the club’s youngsters thrive under new manager Hansi Flick.
Barca currently top the La Liga table and have won three of their four Champions League games since Flick replaced former boss Xavi Hernandez in the summer. Lamine Yamal has had a breakout year on the wing, while Pau Cubarsi has come through as a centre-back and Marc Casado has had regular playing time in midfield.
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Messi, who broke into the Barca team as a teenager before going on to win a catalogue of trophies for both club and country throughout his illustrious career, has now revealed how their current youngsters have made the transition to senior football so seamless.
He told TV3: “They look spectacular and it doesn’t surprise me because it’s nothing new, it’s been happening all my life, or at least since I arrived in Barcelona when I was 13.
“For me, it’s spectacular that the boys have had the opportunity for a couple of years. When they get the opportunity and confidence, they respond this way because they know the club better than anyone else and because they are used to playing this way. since they were little and when they are accompanied, these things happen, as they also happened in another time.”
Those words were high praise for Flick, who responded at a press conference on Friday. The German said: “It’s an honour that he says nice things about the club and that he follows them, and sees the young players, and then you see that he has his whole heart in this club. It means a lot to us and to the whole team.”
Messi is set to return to Catalonia to celebrate Barca’s 125th anniversary at the Liceu Theatre later this month, and the Inter Miami star added that he sees himself moving back to his former home in the near future.
He revealed: “My children are Catalan, I’ve lived there all my life, the truth is that I feel like I’m from Barcelona and at any time I could go and live there. Because my children, my wife and I miss our life in Barcelona a lot, since we have friends there, we left a lot behind there.”
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