Barcelona is gearing up for the 2024-2025 season with high expectations following a promising previous year in both La Liga and the Champions League. The Blaugrana will need to showcase the progress made by their young talents, who gained valuable experience last season. The 2023-2024 campaign left several key takeaways, particularly the emergence of Lamin Yamal, a standout player born in 2006 who also contributed to Spain's European Championship victory.
Finishing second behind Real Madrid and ahead of the surprising Girona was a positive outcome, given the stellar season of their eternal rivals, who won La Liga, the Champions League, and the Spanish Super Cup. Barcelona's Champions League run was cut short somewhat unexpectedly after a 2-3 away defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, followed by a heavy 1-4 loss at Camp Nou, despite Raphinha's early goal which initially suggested a different outcome.
In the Copa del Rey, Barcelona faced a 4-2 defeat in the quarter-finals against Athletic Bilbao, the eventual champions who beat Mallorca in the final. The Supercopa de España also offered little solace, as Barcelona lost 4-1 to Real Madrid in the final held in Riyadh, with Vinicius Jr. scoring a hat-trick.
Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich kick off a weekend of top-tier football
21 Nov - 23:06 •
1' min
These results prompted a change in management, with Xavi departing and Hansi Flick taking over. Flick, born in 1965, previously managed the German national team from 2021 to 2023 and had a successful stint with Bayern Munich.
Barcelona has been relatively quiet in the summer transfer market so far. The notable signing is striker Pau Victor from Girona, who scored 18 goals last season for Barcelona B. Several players have returned from their loans, including Sergino Dest, Ansu Fati, and Clement Lenglet.
On the outgoing side, Barcelona sold center-back Chadi Riad to Real Betis for around nine million euros. They also received six million euros from Chelsea for forward Marc Guiu and three million euros from Sampdoria for Estanis Pedrola.
Barcelona aims to build on the foundations laid last season and strive for greater success domestically and in Europe.
