La Masia: The Fall of the Giant-Sweta Bhandari
Once upon a time, La Masia ruled the world. In 2010, the ballon d’ or podium had three La Masia graduates as the finalists; Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. Messi is still ruling the world, Xavi and Iniesta have successfully made their mark in the world of Football as the greatest magician ever; they were from La Masia. We don’t need much example to know the potential La Masia has. Pep Guardiola, the manager who has decorated the Golden years of Barcelona as a manager, himself, is a La Masia product.
On 25 November 2012, what happened had never happened before and is unlikely to occur in the coming future. It was the date when Barcelona fielded all 11 players from La Masia. What an outstanding achievement for a club. La Masia, which was formed in 1979, then called as the farmhouse was glorified to the utmost level that day.
The coach, Tito Vilanova, himself the La Masia product started with 10 La Masia players and only one outsider, Dani Alves. At around 14th min, Alves came off injured and then came in, Martin Montoya marking the historical moment of FC Barcelona.
then had stated, “Fielding the 1st ever La Masia eleven will go down as one of the proudest moments in over 100 years of Blaugrana History.”
And just see, where we are now. Messi, Busquets, Alba, Pique and Roberto from La Masia play at Barcelona regularly, and except Roberto, all are above 30.
About a week ago, Koeman had stated about not having a 21-year-old bright midfielder Riqui Puig in his plans. Puig is now staying according to rumours; he will stay at Barca B and maybe develop a bit. But, Why there is even a question about his continuation when he already has shown his potential in the mins he got? Says a lot about the Crisis at Fc Barcelona and the decorated academy La Masia.
Let me pen down some big names that came from La Masia, who has made some remarkable impact in Footballing world.
LA MASIA STARS
Lionel Messi,
Xavi Hernandes,
Andres Iniesta,
Pep Guardiola,
Carles Puyol,
Cesc Fabregas,
Gerard Pique,
Pedro Rodriguez,
Sergio Busquets,
Luis Gracia,
Mikel Arteta,
Jordi Alba,
Victor Valdes.
These are just a few known names; the list can go even longer and is still not enough to describe quality La Masia possesses. There just isn’t any other academy which has made an impact as much as La Masia in the world of Football.
THE STORY OF LA MASIA
“From the outset, the boys learn not to be afraid of having possession. In fact, they learn to love the ball.”
– Guillermo Amor
“They learn to love the ball,” said Guillermo while talking about what exactly is taught in La Masia that makes it unique. A key midfielder of the Cruyff era, Amor made over 400 league appearances for the club. He arrived at the La Masia as an 11-year-old and stayed around for a full eight years. He had also said back then, “If there’s any club that truly believes in its youth academy, that’s us.”
In Oct 2018, at the Festival Dello Sport, then Director Carles Folguera, had explained how La Masia is much more than a footballing academy.
“There are two key figures in this process,” Folguera said, “Beyond the coaches, we work side by side with their families as players adapt to their surroundings, as well as the teachers, who accompany our residents throughout their stay with us.” Training methodology at La Masia is much more different than others. Their focus is on developing the artists first, then athletes. Like Armor had said, from an early age, they learn to love the ball, stick to the ball. With beliefs in 3 P’s; pressure, possession and positioning, they slowly furnish themselves with these traits then, learning those extra-terrestrials pass to set their vision of Football to whole another level.
So basically, the potential of La Masia is much more than we all anticipate. Not every La Masia indeed reach that level of quality, but why is the hesitancy to trust even those who show their potential?
Let’s see some examples.
TAKEFUSA KUBO(19 years old)
Kubo, famously known as Japanese Messi, had joined Barcelona’s academy at the age of 10. He had to leave the club in 2015 after Barcelona was investigated for breaking FIFA regulations related to signing young players. He returned to Japan, joining Fc Tokyo’s youth system. More here
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